Debate contribution: North/South Ministerial Council: Language Body

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 3 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

3 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

North/South Ministerial Council: Language Body

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5363030

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. With your permission, and in compliance with section 52 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, I will make a statement on the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) language body meeting that was held at the Monaghan Peace Campus on 3 December. The Executive were represented by me and by junior Minister Reilly as the accompanying Minister. The Irish Government were represented by Dara Calleary TD, the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. The statement has been agreed with junior Minister Reilly, and I make it on behalf of both of us. The meeting dealt with issues relating to the NSMC 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 opening remarks, Ministers acknowledged the work of the language body and the positive impact that the agencies have had on the language and cultural sectors on both sides of the border. Following opening remarks, I, as chair, introduced a number of items that form the basis of this statement. The first item to be discussed was the language body progress report. The Council noted the progress reports that were received from the chairs and chief executive officers of the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge, as well as the key achievements of the language body since the previous sectoral meeting. Achievements included the delivery of the first tranche of online entries for the Irish language's first comprehensive monolingual dictionary; the provision of support to over 90 groups to promote the Irish language in the arts sector; the supporting of tuition in Ulster-Scots music and dance in over 200 community settings and 100 schools across Ulster; and the delivery of 36 talks promoting the Ulster-Scots language to schools and community groups, which reached more than 1,000 people. The second item to be discussed was corporate governance matters. The Council addressed a range of governance matters and approved the language body's 2026 business plans, budgets and 2026-28 corporate plans, all of which were prepared in line with the guidance from both Finance Departments and agreed by sponsor Departments and both Finance Ministers. The Council also noted that the consolidated annual reports and accounts for 2022 and 2023 have been certified by both Comptrollers and Auditors General and laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly and both Houses of the Oireachtas and that the audit of the 2024 accounts is nearing completion.

The next item on the agenda was a presentation from Foras na Gaeilge on its online Irish dictionary. The Council noted Foras na Gaeilge's pioneering work in developing the Irish language’s first online, single-language dictionary, and its plans for the continued development of an online Irish-English dictionary. The fourth item to be addressed was staffing complement. The Council agreed that officials should continue to work with each agency to ensure that appropriate staffing is in place to deliver on the objectives outlined in their corporate and business plans. The next item to be addressed was board appointments. The Council approved the appointment of board members to the language body. The final issue to be addressed was the date of the next NSMC language body meeting. The Council agreed to hold the meeting in spring 2026. I commend the statement to the House.

First, I do not believe that that hinders the work of Foras na Gaeilge or other language bodies. Indeed, we had the progress report, and the Member will be able to see the continuing work in that sphere. Secondly, on the Member's question about costs, I am not the one who is taking action. I did not initiate that action, but we have to respond to it. Unfortunately, cost and expense will come with that. The Irish language strategy did not come up during the NSMC language body meeting, but, as I have set out many times, the cross-departmental working group has been established. The work of that group has gone out to Departments to get the actions that that group would like to see taken — the actions that Departments can afford to take. As soon as that comes back to the cross-departmental working group, it will come to me. At that stage, it will be analysed, and then it can be taken to the Executive for a final decision and publication.

I will make sure that any of that information that we hold is shared with the Committee for Communities. The work that is being done is so broad and is delivered in so many settings that it is impossible to quantify its total impact. I am happy to go away and see what specific information we can share with the Committee. The Member raised a good point: we want to make sure that the money that is being spent has the intended impact. He will see that some of that information has already been provided and is published, and some of that was in the update. I will, however, ensure that the Committee is furnished with that information.

No, because there were grown-ups in the room who had the ability to articulate their views and make their points without resorting to name-calling.

There are extensive outcomes in the business plans. If the Member does not have those, I am sure that we can provide them to her, because extensive work will be carried out in both areas, and we want to achieve many outcomes. I could go through a number of those, but it would take some time, so it would be better for me to furnish her with that information. I am happy to do that.

Ultimately, it is up to the agencies to make the case for the funding that they require to make sure that their staff are in place and to use their budget in a way that delivers on the objectives in their corporate plans and business plans for that year. An increase in staffing complement was agreed so that the agencies can continue with the work that they need to do. The staffing complement had been static for many years, but their work continues. We will continue to work with each agency to ensure that appropriate staffing resource is in place so that we can deliver on the corporate and business plans.

I am very glad to answer the Member's question and any other question that she might want to put to me. I think that it is always better if we can act in a grown-up and mature way. I look forward to that in the future. I think that 90 different projects were funded in that way. I am more than happy to get information on those and highlight the projects in Northern Ireland, perhaps even in the Member's constituency.

Of course, we need to make sure that the funding formula is fit for purpose. We need to make sure that it is affordable for us. There are many demands on all Departments, including my Department. All those issues need to be taken into consideration. However, that does not prevent the Irish Government from putting more of their resource into, for example, some of the projects that Foras na Gaeilge provides. They are at liberty to do that; indeed, they have done that. They put in additional money, as each jurisdiction is entitled to do. If Governments want to put in additional resources, they can do that. The Irish Government have done that. I do not want to sign up to something that will put an additional burden on us, because I recognise that the Finance Minister, who has just walked into the Chamber, wants me to make sure that I keep within my budget.

The Member might be aware that significant additional resource has been put in place by the Irish Government. That has helped to provide support to over 90 groups to promote the Irish language in the arts sector. Obviously, it will be up to Foras na Gaeilge to decide on how to spend its budget and on whether it wants to put more into those specific programmes, as it is up to the Irish Government to decide whether to allocate any additional resource for that purpose. I said to Mrs Mason that I am happy to provide that information to her; I will also share it with the Member.

It is the role of the Department to provide the funding to the bodies. The bodies then decide how much is put towards their individual work streams. It is not directly up to me to involve myself in any of those programmes or to allocate funding. That is why we have the language body and the agencies in place. However, I can provide her with the exact amount that has been spent on the initiative. After the meeting, I had a very interesting conversation with Minister Reilly, who was educated through the medium of Irish, about the importance of the dictionary. We recognise the practical and positive benefit that can come from the dictionary, and no doubt the agencies will take that on board as they seek to do their work.

I am afraid that I do not have the information about the vacancy rate in each of the bodies. That information was not presented to us as an issue, but I will certainly find it out for the Member and respond to her in writing.

1,576 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:30 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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