Mr. Seán Ó Coinn:

Essentially, yes. I hope the Senator will not take this as a correction but the Irish language is now seen as very much part of the identity of more than nationalists in the context of the North. One of the most significant projects we support is the Turas project in loyalist east Belfast. This promotes and teaches the Irish language to large numbers of people from a loyalist background. That project is now in its fourth year and is now an established project. It is making a significant impact in the unionist community, especially in working class areas in the North. The Irish language in the North is no longer an issue of nationalist identity; it is people associating themselves with the cultural identity associated with a language that for more than 2,000 years was a native indigenous language to all parts of the island. Although it is still the subject of political debate and division between a number of the parties, to a large extent - although not entirely - the language has now been removed significantly from the political dimension. The Alliance Party is one of the parties that are quite supportive of language legislation in the North. That shows the difference in the way the environment in the North has changed in recent years in respect of the language.

One concern I already have mentioned is the departure from the EU and its standards, together with all of those things that come to the two countries through their participation in the EU. This is not only about standards in commerce and trade but is also to do with standards in education, child care and all those aspects. Those protections will no longer be available to the community in the North. The Irish language makes great use of, and has a high reliance upon, those protections, for example, in the provision of Irish-medium education, for access to resources for Irish-medium education, for pre-school through the medium of Irish and for Irish to be available in our universities at third level education. To some extent these provisions are taken for granted in the South but they are by no means a foregone conclusion in the North. Just two years ago, a very well subscribed third level course based in Belfast was closed as a cost-cutting measure and it was moved to one of the university's other campuses in Derry. That move disenfranchised several hundred people who were availing of that course and who were not able to travel outside of Belfast for that third level provision. It is this sort of provision that may be taken for granted in the South where there are protections and supports that are not available in the North.

I will let my colleague in at this point. As I am resident in the North in County Armagh, I have a very particular perspective on the language, even though my job is based here in Dublin. My colleague Mr. Shane Ó hEidhin is a born and bred Dub. He will be able to speak more authoritatively on the comparisons.