Acting on the Irish language
Photography by Ryan Janek Wolowski
Annabel Salisbury explores the role of the Irish language in Northern Ireland today.
A combination of Brexit and the breakdown of power-sharing has brought Northern Ireland firmly into English headlines. This has served as a reminder of the diversity of identities captured by the term “United Kingdom” that have played such a pivotal role in the talks at Stormont. The new agreement at Stormont has created the role of Irish Language Commissioner, giving at least some protection to the thousands of Irish speakers living in Northern Ireland, but falling short of the stand-alone Irish Language Act that many believe is necessary to ensure their rights to the Irish language are protected. When I moved to Belfast in my teens, the Irish language was a total unknown to me, a lack of awareness that I think I share with many other English people. But to know something about a place and a people you must know something of the language, and Irish is part of the story of Northern Ireland, and so of the UK as well. In this article, I will discuss the past and present of Irish with Danielle O’Neill of An Cumann Gaelach, the Irish Language Society at Queen’s University Belfast.
“[Irish] itself is beautiful and it’s even better when you’re having a conversation with someone” says Danielle, “it is great being able to speak my native tongue.” An Cumann Gaelach have been campaigning for the Irish Language Act since it was promised in the St. Andrew’s Agreement 14 years ago. This proposed piece of legislation would put Irish on equal footing with English in Northern Ireland, allowing concrete changes like bilingual signage and increased funding to Irish language learning facilities. These changes would “protect my afforded rights and would put an end to the exclusion and lack of respect an Irish speaker faces here” says O’Neill. For some of us who were not raised in Northern Ireland, it is difficult to understand the precarious historical situation of Irish in Northern Ireland. From being embraced by both the native Irish and Ulster Protestants during the 1800s, the language became heavily politicized during the 20th century as its association with nationalism grew. In 2017, DUP leader Arlene Foster remarked that an Act for the Polish language would make more sense than for Irish, and the language seemed to be the immoveable object in the recent talks to reinstate Stormont.
The history of the Irish language was deeply scarred by British colonial rule in Ireland, which both directly attacked the language through banning Irish in schools, and caused indirect damage through atrocities such as the Great Famine, which heavily affected the Irish-speaking west coast. The recent interest in Irish reflects a growing awareness of the value of minority languages throughout the world. The Language Conservancy is a charity that works with Indigenous groups in the Americas to help revitalize languages, assisting with the creation of dictionaries for languages that are often entirely oral, and providing learning resources. The picture of language loss is staggering; every two weeks, a language dies out with its last speaker. Half of the 7000 languages spoken today are in danger of extinction. For groups facing oppression, this loss represents not only the deprivation of a mythology and history, but also the unique cultural identity that is tied up in a living language. I ask Danielle about this link between language and identity: “[Irish] makes up at lot of my daily life and I cannot imagine myself without it,” she says, “Irish speakers should have their rights to their language protected just as a Spanish person has the right to speak Spanish in Spain and that the French can speak French in France.” Languages are a unique way of viewing the world from a people and a place, but the beauty of them is that they are inherently open and indiscriminate — anyone can learn a language, and anyone doing so is a cause for celebration. A living language, spoken by young people and with new learners participating, represents the best example of celebrating difference.
Fortunately, as Danielle points out, Irish is thriving. “The demand for learning the language has increased significantly and people from both unionist and nationalist backgrounds are taking a great interest in the language” she tells me. Nearly 1 million people are learning Irish on Duolingo and the app also launched a Scots Gaelic course at the end of 2019. In Belfast, it is easy to stumble upon bars offering Irish language discussion groups and Danielle tells me that “there are so many Instagram and Twitter pages that help promote and develop people’s Irish”.
Nonetheless, many still view Irish with caution. One of An Cumann Gaelach’s key campaigns is to reinstate bilingual signage at Queen’s University, which was removed in 1997. In 2018, the university controversially defended its decision, citing the belief that the signs would contravene equality and diversity policies. This places the Irish language on par with explicit political symbols such as flags. However, as Danielle points out to me, Irish is increasingly being embraced cross-community. It is difficult to speculate on why this might be, but the historical reality of Irish speakers from all backgrounds is likely to make a difference; as are the place names in Northern Ireland which embeds the language in the lives of everyone who lives there. Belfast comes from the Irish Béal Feirste, meaning mouth of the sand-bank ford. For Queen’s University, the Irish language remains a sensitive problem, but this generation has acted admirably in refusing to respond to their language being wielded as a political tool. Language is a human right, and claiming such rights should not be associated with violence.
Stormont is sitting for the first time in three years, but Northern Ireland has changed while it’s been gone. Activism has transformed the laws on abortion and equal marriage, showing that a bright future for the region is arriving. Grassroots activism for Irish is cause for celebration, but if we believe that language is valuable — that it is a human right — then there is no substitute for this value being enshrined in terms of an official Act. Irish as a living language can be nothing but valuable for the cultural heritage of the UK; and, as Danielle says, recognizing that “Irish is a significant part to many people’s identity in Northern Ireland and that so many use it as a daily part of their life” should be important to everyone, whether they are an Irish speaker or not.