Debate contribution: Irish Language Strategy

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 18 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

18 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Irish Language Strategy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4860553

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. Language is a central element to any place and its people, as the ways that things are spoken about can in turn influence how things are thought about. It is important that we respect each other, and that means respecting each other's culture, heritage and languages. The work, however, is not straightforward. We have heard in the debate that the journey towards the strategies has been a long one, and, as Minister, I can only speak about the most recent year of that journey whilst being conscious of the years preceding it. There are clearly challenges in relation to costs and funding. There are many calls on our public finances and there are decisions to be made, many of which centre on how we prioritise spend. It is clear that many components of our heritage, culture and creativity can improve personal and community well-being and community cohesion, reduce recidivism and improve skills. It is therefore important that we seek to find funding for those activities, and I very much include language in that space, as it is a key component of our wider heritage and culture. We must remember, however, that finances are limited. Not everything that we aspire to do is possible, and not everything that would make a positive difference can be funded. Language can enrich our communities, our learning, our media and publications, our cultural lives and our economy, but it can also be used as a tool to divide. There has been much talk about rights, such as the right to speak in and celebrate a certain language, but that needs to continue to be set against the right of all to choose not to use or connect with a particular language. It is in that context that the Executive's Ulster-Scots language, heritage and culture strategy and action plan and the Irish language strategy and action plan are being developed. As we heard, the development of the strategies has moved through a number of phases. In 2022, expert advisory panels provided recommendations on what the strategies should seek to address. Co-design groups of stakeholders were brought together in October 2021 to provide input on the development and content of the strategies and action plans. The groups are chaired by a sectoral stakeholder and a senior official from my Department. I am grateful for all the work that has been undertaken and all the knowledge and expertise that has been shared through the work of the co-design groups. I am grateful to each member of the two co-design groups. In 2022 and 2023, they focused strongly on action plans to implement the strategies. The plans were ambitious when it came not only to cost but to the number of people and the resources that would be required, the skills development that would be needed and, in some cases, the technology that was necessary. In 2024, the group's focus was more on the draft narrative strategies. In October 2024, the co-design groups completed their drafting work on the two narrative strategies. The outputs from that phase of the work of the co-design groups were then passed to my Department for consideration. A key element of that consideration needs to be the achievability of proposed actions and how they fit with broader departmental and Executive priorities and with work that is already under way. It may be, for instance, that work is already under way in a Department that will deliver the intent of an action but via a different route. The next stage of the work is central to the role of the cross-departmental working group (CDWG) of senior officials. That group first met in February 2022 and has, to date, largely been operating in shadow mode, tracking the work of the co-design groups. With the delivery of the co-design groups' draft documents, the CDWG is able to move out of shadow mode. The group has met roughly every six weeks over the past year and has spent some time considering its approach. I intend to bring a paper to the Executive imminently, asking my colleagues to confirm or amend their Department's member of the group and give that member authority to engage across their Department to consider and agree appropriate actions, including developing costs. After that phase of work, which, given the range of potential action areas and other work that is going on across Departments, will take a few months, I will be in a position to consider draft strategies and action plans for bringing to the Executive for approval for public consultation. As Members will appreciate, there will be further necessary stages following that consultation: consideration of the comments; potential amendment to the documents in the light of those comments; and then approval by the Executive of final drafts for publication. I should also touch on the concept of co-design. It is absolutely right that the Government take full account of the views and expertise of people across our society. It is, however, for the Government to govern. Therefore, I am grateful for all the work that has been done and time that has been committed by every member of the two co-design groups. That has allowed us a basis from which to move to the next stage of the work that is for us. Nonetheless, I have committed, and I have reaffirmed today, that the co-design groups will have a chance to review and comment on the draft documents before they move to public consultation and that I will, at that stage, meet the co-design groups. My reasoning for not meeting at an earlier stage has been that I would not have had proposals to discuss with the co-design group members. At this stage, it is appropriate for me to address some of the disingenuous comments that have been made by the Chairperson of the Communities Committee, which have been reinforced by the Deputy Chair. He has claimed that I refused to meet Conradh na Gaeilge. That is not the case. Conradh na Gaeilge has had extensive input to the decision-making process. I have committed to meeting it when the next stage of work is done. The Chair knows that. I have explained it to him. He has been briefed on that, but he continues to peddle the line that I do not acknowledge the contribution that has been made by those groups. That is not true. I am following a process. I know what he is up to and what he is trying to do, but I have committed to a certain action —.

Give me a second. I have committed to a line of work, and I will do that. I am happy to give way to the Member so that he can clarify his comments.

My understanding is that it has been in contact to discuss work on the strategy. If it wants to raise separate issues, I am happy to discuss them. However, I have put in place a process. The Member is well aware of it, because it is exactly the same as the process that I have put in place for the other key strategies, including the anti-poverty strategy, which he continues to call to be published even though I have already committed to ensuring that it goes to the Executive by the end of the month.

I will give way to the Member again.

In all those strategies, they have had incredible input, because the way in which they were set up by my predecessor gave them the access and information that they needed to co-design them with us. We are going through a process now with the various strategies with the cross-departmental groups, and the Member is aware of those. He may disagree with that, but he is well aware of the process that I put in place. He may disagree with that, but he is being disingenuous in the way that he is presenting it, and I will be calling that out. I hope that that makes clear the processes that I have been following. I say again: they are the same for the language strategies as for the social inclusion strategies. I recognise that the work of the cross-departmental working groups is to review, assess and critically evaluate the inputs from the co-design groups. That is taking time. I know that that is frustrating the members of the co-design groups and others, but it is a vital stage of ensuring that we have strategies that address the issues, are deliverable and will not create division. Having explained the process of developing the strategies and the current stage in that process, I return to the important role that language plays in the life of Northern Ireland and of each of us. I have stated on numerous occasions in the Chamber and to the Committee that I fully respect the rights of people with regard to their cultural and linguistic heritage. However, it is vital that we balance those benefits with the costs and impositions that that might involve. It is on that basis that I will manage the process that now moves into the cross-departmental working group stage.

1,530 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:10 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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