Debate contribution: Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on .
- MLA
- Mr Gordon Lyons
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 22 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5740485
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I believe that you have received correspondence from the Economy Minister, who asserts that I placed inaccurate information on the Assembly record at my last Question Time by stating that I had not received a response from her regarding the draft Irish language strategy. The Minister advises that a response was provided by the end of June 2026 and has requested that I correct the record and issue an apology. Mr Speaker, those were not my words. I was quoting directly from the judgement in the Conradh na Gaeilge judicial review. The facts are straightforward. My Department sought ministerial clearance on the draft Irish language and Ulster Scots strategies by 11 March 2026. The judicial review hearings concluded on 3 June 2026. The Department for the Economy did not respond until 26 June, over three months late. By then, the case had concluded.
The delay from the Department for the Economy, including its failure to signal its agreement or disagreement or to provide any alternative comments on the draft narratives and action plans, was a significant factor in hindering progress on those strategies. On that basis, I do not believe that the record needs to be corrected, and I do not accept that there is a basis for an apology. I will, however, place the relevant correspondence in the Assembly Library, so that Members can judge the timeline for themselves. It is not my job to clean up Sinn Féin's mistakes, and I will not take the blame for its failures.
258 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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