Debate contribution: North/South Ministerial Council: Languages

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 17 September 2024.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

17 September 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

North/South Ministerial Council: Languages

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4536847

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Mr Speaker, with your permission and in compliance with section 52 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, I wish to make a statement regarding the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) Language Body meeting that was held at the NSMC joint secretariat offices on 29 May. The Executive were represented by me, as Minister for Communities, and by junior Minister Reilly, as accompanying Minister. The Irish Government were represented by Thomas Byrne TD, Minister of State with responsibility for the Gaeltacht. The statement has been agreed with Minister Reilly, and I make it on behalf of both of us. The meeting dealt with issues relating to the North/South Language Body and its two constituent agencies: the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge. A number of topics were discussed, with decisions being taken where appropriate. As part of the opening remarks, Ministers acknowledged the work of the language body and the positive impact that the agencies have had in the language and culture sectors on both sides of the border. Following the opening remarks, I, as chair, introduced a number of items that form the basis of this statement. The first item discussed was the language body progress report. The Council noted the progress reports for the period 2020-23, which were received from the chairs and CEOs of the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge, along with the key achievements of the language body since the last sectoral meeting. Those achievements included the forging of Ulster-Scots links with the international diaspora through the Ulster-Scots Agency welcoming over 3,000 people to view the Declaration of Independence exhibition at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), which featured an original Dunlap broadside; the distribution by the Ulster-Scots Agency of more than 900 funding grants to help with COVID safety and mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic; the continuing work of Foras na Gaeilge, in partnership with its lead organisations, to deliver language planning initiatives in both jurisdictions, including in Gaeltacht service towns and Irish language networks; and the considerable progress in dictionary and terminology work, including the launch of Foras na Gaeilge's new dictionary project in 2022 with the ambitious target of publishing a single-language Irish dictionary and a new Irish-English dictionary online by 2027.

The second item to be addressed was corporate governance. The Council addressed a number of governance issues, including the approval of the language body business plans and budgets for 2022, 2023 and 2024, which were completed in accordance with guidance issued by both Finance Departments and agreed by the sponsor Departments and Finance Ministers. Ministers also approved the language body corporate plans for 2023 to 2025, which, again, were completed in accordance with the guidance issued by both Finance Departments and agreed by the sponsor Departments and Finance Ministers. The Council noted the language body's consolidated annual report and accounts for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, which had been certified by the Comptrollers and Auditors General and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The NSMC also noted that the audit of the 2022 accounts is near completion. The next item to be addressed was climate change and loss of biodiversity in the language sector. The NSMC noted that, as public service bodies, both agencies of the North/South Ministerial Council language body have statutory climate change and biodiversity obligations. Ministers welcomed the agencies' drafting of climate action road maps to meet the targets in both jurisdictions. We noted that both agencies will continue to engage with relevant Departments in order to identify opportunities to address climate change and loss of biodiversity from an operational perspective. The NSMC then received presentations by groups that the language body funds. The presentations by Gael Linn and the Ulster-Scots Community Network illustrated the key achievements of the organisations as a result of working in partnership with agencies of the language body. The Council welcomed the successful engagement with schools in both jurisdictions to deliver programmes and schemes to improve Irish language skills and to create natural opportunities to speak Irish outside the formal classroom setting. The North/South Ministerial Council also welcomed raising awareness of Ulster-Scots identity among individuals and over 100 voluntary and community groups. That included the provision of policy support, assistance with adherence to safeguarding standards and the encouragement of wider involvement in Ulster-Scots activity by groups and individuals through the delivery of over 30 cultural events in 2023. The final issue that was addressed was the date of the next NSMC language body meeting, with the Council agreeing to hold it in autumn 2024.

No. That was not raised at the meeting, because it is a responsibility solely for the Department. I am considering next steps in the development of the relevant strategies.

There are a number of vacancies. The Executive will need to work through the appointments. They are considering appropriate nominees. Once I have those, I will seek NSMC agreement to make the appointments at the earliest opportunity.

The Member will be aware that that vacancy has existed for some time. As I said in my answer to Mr Gildernew, there are a number of Executive-nominated vacancies on the language body boards. It will be up to the Executive to decide those, and I will then be able to take them to the next meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council. Unfortunately, because it is dependent on Executive agreement, I do not have a time frame for when that appointment will be made.

That was not discussed at the meeting. The language bodies are responsible for bringing forward what it is that they would like to see happen. If the Member has individual issues that she would like to see one of the agencies take forward, I would be more than happy to pass that on to the relevant agency and see what, if anything, needs to be discussed at further meetings.

I will need to check my diary. Obviously, there is regular, ongoing engagement with those bodies at official level and at ministerial level. I will need to check and see what is coming up in my diary. It is certainly right that we have close cooperation. There will be greater collaboration with the Ulster-Scots Agency as a result of the United States/Northern Ireland cultural working group, of which it is a part. We also meet the agencies of the language body in other forums, if not directly at meetings.

I raised that at yesterday's plenary meeting as well as at the sectoral meeting. I believe that there is huge opportunity, as I said in the Chamber yesterday, to develop those links, particularly with the United States, which I mentioned. There are number of ways in which I can do that. Again, if the Member has any particular issues that, she thinks, the working group should look at, I would be happy to engage with her on that.

Although I do not have the detail on that, as it is the responsibility of the body, I will be happy to ask it to provide an update to the Member.

Issues of tourism are primarily under the purview of the Department for the Economy. However, I absolutely want to make sure that I play whatever role I can in that. We have an opportunity to promote Northern Ireland in the Untied States through the cultural connections that we have. The exhibition on the Declaration of Independence was very useful. I am pleased to be able to tell the House that I have made progress in our conversations with both the Smithsonian Institution in the United States and the National Archives about how there can be greater collaboration with National Museums NI and the Public Record Office. I would like to develop that. Ultimately, one of the best outcomes we can get from that is raising awareness among more people in the Untied States, especially those with an Ulster-Scots background, of what it is that we do here in Northern Ireland and, hopefully, getting them over to visit.

The Member will be aware that, when the Assembly and Executive were not in place, there were no meetings of the North/South Ministerial Council at sectoral, institutional or plenary level in order to allow those to go through their proper processes. If the Member has any particular concerns on those, I will be happy to hear them. I will take them up directly with whomever is responsible.

That issue was not discussed during the meeting. The Member will be aware that, in Northern Ireland, we have many public-sector organisations that are facing into real-term budget reductions, with rising costs and standstill budgets. If there were to be a proposal from the Irish Government to increase their budget, that would then have implications for us. We need to ensure that the funding level is kept the same. It would have been difficult for us to increase that funding if the Irish Government had wanted to, because we need to be aware of the budgetary situation in which we find ourselves.

The commissioners are not my Department's responsibility. I will need to consider the strategies and action plans, consider the next steps and engage with Executive colleagues. Only when we get to that position will I be able to bring forward a timetable.

1,545 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:06 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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