Allister calls on Poots to abandon Irish Language Act consultation
09 May 2007
MEP Jim Allister has called upon Culture Minister, Edwin Poots, in his first day in office to immediately withdraw the current DCAL consultation document on the type of Irish Language Act to be introduced. In his letter Mr Allister says:-
8 May 2007
Dear Minister,
Re: IRISH LANGUAGE ACT
I write to urge you to withdraw the current consultation on the form which legislation advancing the Irish language might take.
I believe the process by which things reached this far has been corrupted by political decisions which rode roughshod over fundamental equality law requirements. I invite you to agree. In consequence, I contend the present consultation process is irretrievably tainted and flawed, being the product of a corrupted process, and thus should be withdrawn. I refer you to my response to the first consultation document for details as to how equality and other procedures were fundamentally breached. The second consultation, being the product of the first, cannot escape the same corrupting consequences.
Moreover, the second consultation lacks credibility in its own right because of its production within 7 working days of the close of the first, thus, making it impossible for it to be the result of serious and genuine consideration.
Furthermore, the fact that it presents indicative clauses for an Irish Language Bill, in circumstances where the fundamental question of whether we even need an Irish Language Act has never been asked, confirms that, within itself, it is deficient and a trap to lead to an Irish Language Act of some form.
I, therefore, implore you to roll back the process and return to a beginning which acknowledges, respects and operates within equality provisions and the processes of good government. You should do that, I suggest, confident in the knowledge that Northern Ireland has been fundamentally compliant with the expectations of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, as confirmed by the recent report by the Committee of Ministers. Certainly, on that basis there is no tenable justification or requirement for an Irish Language Act.
You can, I suggest, easily meet the requirements of Section 28D of the Northern Ireland Act, 1998 without recourse to the divisive folly of an Irish Language Act.
I trust, therefore, you will make it a priority to withdraw the current consultation and announce an end to plans to implement an Irish Language Act.
Yours sincerely,
James H Allister QC MEP
