Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I imagine we would all agree that the remarks made by Ms Foster are highly offensive to Irish speakers. She was also spectacularly wrong when she stated that more people speak Polish than Irish in the Six Counties. According to the last census in the North, a total of 184,898 spoke Irish compared with fewer than 20,000 who spoke Polish. This is being used as a distraction. We hear these fake statistics. Ms Foster was also given political cover by the Secretary of State, Mr. Brokenshire, given his remarks on the need for cross-community support on the matter. It provides political cover but it also effectively gives them a veto in the matter.

People want to know what the Government is going to do. The Irish language is an integral part of people's lives growing up and more and more people are using it. Will the Minister outline the Government's plans in respect of the commitment on the Irish language Act from the St. Andrews Agreement as well as the outstanding commitments from other agreements and how they will be fully implemented?

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