Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. The situation in the Ulster Scots Agency as a result of recent developments is worth examination. Despite what has been claimed, the attitude of the Government from the beginning to the proposal and decision to set up the Ulster Scots Agency has been generous and broad-minded. The claims made on behalf of the language or linguistic tradition were virtually taken on trust. The Minister and other representatives of the Government have attended various Ulster Scots functions. In the past six months I attended a conference in Kilkeel under the auspices of the Schomberg Society but funded by the Ulster Scots Agency and I also visited the institute of Ulster Scots studies at Magee Campus, University of Ulster, which is a fine facility.

According to my figures — the Minister may be able to add to the detail — there has been an increase in funding of approximately 500% since 1999. As in the case of the Irish language where the primary responsibility is with the Irish Government, one would have thought that in the case of the Ulster Scots Agency with the British Government paying 75% , the motor force would come from that quarter. It therefore does not make sense that the Irish Government is being blamed for funding difficulties and deficiencies.

In a reply to a parliamentary question the British Minister of State, Jane Kennedy MP, claimed there was no demand for the teaching of Ulster Scots in schools. Scots and Ulster Scots are on the borderline between dialect and language. My father-in-law was a lowland Scot and had a Scots dictionary in his bookcase dating from 1930. The language seems to be based on a hybrid between Old English and Norse but it is really more akin to Hiberno-English than it is to Irish.

Ulster Scots as an expression of identity is superior to the phrase, "Simply British", but it does not encompass by any manner of means all the connections between Ulster and Scotland. I asked the question of one of the leading lights in the Ulster Scots movement, Nelson McCausland of the DUP, whether he considered the McDonnells of Antrim as Ulster Scots and he answered, "No, they are Irish." There is no reason why Ulster Scots should be incompatible in any way with Irish any more than it is with British.

I regret the degree of politicisation that was brought into some aspects of the public projection of the agency which has not found a parallel in any of the other North-South implementation bodies. The attacks made on the Irish Government have been very unfair. We have done our best to be supportive. If problems have arisen, one should first look to the main Government funding the agency, namely, the British Government. Relations between the agency and the British Government have not been good, perhaps due to the highly politicised nature in which its affairs have been conducted. It is also a question of seeking support and understanding from within one's own community. While there have been achievements, as outlined in the Ulster Scots newspaper, considerable work remains to be done.

I repudiate, in particular, any attack made on the record of the Irish Government regarding the treatment of minorities. This is without foundation as can be simply demonstrated by the fact that the equality agency in this jurisdiction has dealt with scarcely a single complaint of religious discrimination since its establishment.

I hope that whoever takes over as chair of the Ulster Scots Agency will have realistic ambitions. The project is a worthwhile one but its scope should be broadened to become more inclusive. The agency would fare much better if it were not used as a kind of ideological battering ram against the Irish language or nationalism.

The core issue is the need to recover goodwill. There is considerable latent goodwill in this State for the project if it is conducted in a more conciliatory fashion. I urge the Government to continue to adopt a sympathetic approach to the Ulster Scots Agency, help it to overcome problems and perhaps talk through in a less confrontational manner some of the problems and issues involved in disseminating Ulster Scots culture.