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Over 94% Support Irish-Language Act in North

Elected representatives must act now to implement public will, says Conradh na Gaeilge

Acht GaeilgeIt was announced today (1 October 2015) by the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure that 94.7% of submissions received for the recent DCAL consultation on a draft Irish-language Bill were in support of an Irish-language Act in the north. 

Niall Comer, Vice President of Conradh na Gaeilge says:

“Everyone who participated in this process deserves immense credit. This consultation followed the survey commissioned by Conradh na Gaeilge at the beginning of this year which showed the depth of public support for the availability of services in Irish north and south. These results send a strong message to the government: the public will is clear and they should act on it. The rights of the Irish-speaking public must be enshrined in legislation and the public, who participated enthusiastically and seriously in the consultation, must be provided with the tools to develop the Irish language in the years ahead. This will be best achieved with rights-based legislation.” 

Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, Advocacy Manager, Conradh na Gaeilge says:

“We welcome the results published today by the DCAL Departmental Committee regarding the consultation on the Irish-Language Act. More than 13,000 people participated in this process and the Irish-language community are to be especially commended for the positive way they engaged in it. 94.7% of those who sent a petition are in favour of language legislation. This reaffirms the results revealed by the two consultation processes held previously, in 2006 and 2007. The parties in the assembly must act to respect the public will and implement fully-resourced rights-based language legislation without further delay.”

 

 

 

Conradh na Gaeilge

6 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2.
Phone: +353 (0) 1 475 7401, Fax: +353 (0) 1 475 7844, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.