Dr. Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh:

I want to pick up on one of the points Dr. Farry made before addressing Senator Black's question. We are not going to be seeking to strengthen the legislation between now and getting it through. We have seen the hard work that went into getting it to where it is at. We are very aware that if there is an opportunity to strengthen the predefined legislation, there will also be an opportunity to weaken it. The aim of the negotiations was to pre-agree and predefine legislation, get it into an agreement and get it on the Statute Book. We are now in a phase in which we are seeking to get exactly what was agreed, for all its foreseeable worth and problems. Submissions from the human rights commission and others would point out many of the problems with the legislation. As we said, it is far from perfect but it is a foundation. We are accepting it in the spirit that it is something we will very much seek to build on in the coming years and decades. Let us get it into the Statute Book now, however. Let us get it operating and moving. What will happen in practice is that the big bad bogeyman that was promised will not appear and the sky will not fall in. Everyone will not have to speak Irish overnight. We are going to see very mediocre legislation making some quite necessary changes in normal people's lives. For those who wish to use the Irish language, it will be meaningful and a step forward. Members can have our word that we are very much on board to get what was promised onto the books. That is very much our strategy as we sit here talking to members today.

I thank Senator Black, as always, for her support for our campaign. Ar na rudaí a dúirt sí, our focus at the minute is very much on getting the language legislation and the strategy over the line. As Mr. de Spáinn rightly pointed out, while the legislation offers legal insulation, the strategy is almost every bit as important. It may not carry the sound bite of the Irish language Act that made the radio headlines but, whereas the legislation gives the legal framework, the strategy provides for the civic and societal interventions allowing people, including families and young people, to use the Irish language in their lives when they choose to do so.

We are going to place great emphasis on devising a very strong, practical and useful Irish language strategy. It is currently in a co-design process involving the Department for Communities. We are on the expert panel in that regard but, unfortunately, we are very clearly bound to a timeframe of six months in dealing with the New Decade, New Approach agreement. Potentially, that strategy might not be ready until Christmas. If anyone at this meeting believes a strong Irish language strategy is going to have a chance of getting through an executive three or four months before an election, we are going to have problems. Therefore, it is very much in our interest to start fast-tracking some of this work. If it was possible last year to do this within 100 days in six months, it is possible now to do it within 100 days in six months. I very much urge that the promises made be honoured in this spirit on the premises where they were made. It is worth reminding every member of the committee that although we lobbied all parties very heavily and met all parties on this, New Decade, New Approach was signed up to by everyone in the Executive. That Executive is sitting on the basis or foundation of that agreement. While there may have been political opposition to this before, it is now time that all the parties who signed up to the agreement and agreed very clearly and specifically to the legislation took ownership of it. The Irish language belongs to everyone who wishes to use it and to everyone who signed up to the agreement. It is time for everyone to claim ownership of it and get it moving together. If we are truly sincere about building a place that is shared and respectful and open to tolerance, diversity and reconciliation, the Irish language has to play part in that. Twenty-three years after the Good Friday Agreement, we have to move into a space where agreements like the one under discussion can be moved forward without further delay. I hope that answers some of the points of Dr. Farry and Senator Black.