DUP's Programme For Government: Discrimination!
As Irish language activists prepare to again march for their rights in Belfast this Saturday, the attack on their status as a vibrant community deserving of respect continues.
Figures released by the department of culture, arts and leisure in the Six Counties have revealed that, over the next three years, funding for the Irish language will be outstripped by the money granted to ‘Ulster-Scots projects’.
Ulster-Scots is commonly understood as a dialect of English, championed by the most right-wing of unionist politicians as a counter-weight to the national tongue. Their constant claims that Ulster-Scots is, in fact, a language have been undermined by the inability of its most vociferous advocates to use it – the journal of the Ulster Scots Agency is published almost exclusively in English.
The academic Aodán MacPóilin has said that, “The case for Ulster-Scots being a distinct language, made at a time when the status of Scots itself was insecure, is so bizarre that it is unlikely to have been a linguistic argument.”
The Irish language on the other hand, continues to flourish with thousands of schoolchildren across the Six Counties being educated through the medium.
The case for Ulster-Scots is clearly based on the pretext of the colonialist two tribes theory. The fact that, far from being treated on an equal basis, Ulster-Scots is now being placed in a predominant position is evidence of the representatives of British imperialism in Ireland’s fanatical desire to undermine any further growth in a culture that engenders unity as opposed to division and supremacy.
As a result, ‘Ulster-Scots projects’ will get around £1 million (1.3 million euro) more funding than Irish language schemes between 2008 and 2011.
Over £9 million (12 million euro) is set to be spent on the building of an ‘Ulster-Scots academy’ over the next three years while children in Bunscoilleanna across the Six Counties continue to endure third-world conditions.
The bigot in charge of the misnamed Stormont department of culture, Edwin Poots, has already announced that funding for two highly valuable projects, the Irish Language Broadcast Fund and the Derry-based resource centre An Gaelaras, will stop next year.
Janet Muller of the Irish language advocacy group Pobal accused Poots and his DUP cohorts of using an Gaeilge as “a punchbag”.
“I think the DUP have made it very clear that they intend to stamp on the Irish language at every possible opportunity,” Muller said.
Éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac an Mháistír said the only option left for Irish speakers and all those interested in securing democratic rights was to take the campaign to the streets.
“The news that a clearly flourishing language, and the national one at that, is to suffer at the expense of a dialect that nobody seems to speak in public is the latest insult in a long line of recent blows to the Irish language community.
“From the scuppering of the Irish language act to the imminent closure of Lá Nua, what we are witnessing is a full frontal, quasi-fascist assault on the rights of nationally minded people in the Six Counties.
“Nobody, not even its most ardent proponents, is under any illusion that the promotion of Ulster-Scots as a language is an attempt to create a false and divisive identity for a section of the Irish people.”
Daithí continued, “Through measures like this, the Six County executive is now fulfilling one of its key tasks – the further institutionalisation of sectarianism in British occupied Ireland.
“Under the guise of community relations, they are denigrating and discriminating against a language that is the property of us all. Edwin Poots must be publicly challenged on his bigoted policies. A large attendance at Saturday’s Belfast march would be a good start.”
The parade to support the Irish language and diversity will leave Belfast’s Falls Road (An Chultúrlann) at 1pm on Saturday (February 16) and proceed into the city centre.