THE High Court has ruled that the Executive remains in breach of its duty to adopt an Irish Language Strategy – a requirement arising from commitments made in the 2006 St Andrew's Agreement and reiterated in the 2020 New Decade, New Approach deal.
Conradh na Gaeilge have previously brought two Judicial Review cases before the High Court against the Executive, in 2017 and 2022.
In 2017, Justice Maguire ruled that the Executive Committee were in breach of its duty, having failed to adopt an Irish language strategy.
In August 2022, during the absence of an Executive following the Assembly election in May of that year, Justice Scoffield ruled that the previous Executive Committee had also been in breach of section 28D of the Northern Ireland Act.
Conradh na Gaeilge say that in the period between 6 November 2020 and 24 June 2021, the Irish Language Strategy was blocked from going onto the Executive agenda twenty-six times.
Then Minister for Communities, Sinn Féin's Deirdre Hargey, established a 'Co-Design Group,' which met for the first time in November 2021 to develop a draft Irish Language strategy. They completed this work and produced an action plan in November 2023.
The current Minister for Communities, the DUP's Gordon Lyons, took up office in February 2024.
Following a third Judicial Review brought by Conradh na Gaeilge, Justice McAlinden delivered judgment on 17 August, followed by a supplementary judgment this week. He has urged work on an Irish Language Strategy to be completed so that a "final draft is immediately available to the new Executive when it is formed and begins functioning after the May 2027 election."
President of Conradh na Gaeilge, Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, said that almost 20 years after the statutory duty was introduced, authorities should now be preparing a second Irish-language strategy.
“The original statutory duty was imposed in law in 2007 as part of an International Agreement at St Andrew’s. We have now had three very decisive, unequivocal High Court declarations calling for the Executive to act with urgency. The strategy should be a cross-departmental road map charting the best way forward for the Irish language here, with clear timelines, targets and actions.
"Whilst we welcome comments for Justice McAlinden urging completion of the draft Strategy so that it will be “immediately available to the New Executive” after the May 2027 election, we are clear that any draft must be meaningful and command the confidence of the Irish language community and the Irish Language Commissioner.”
He continued, “We remain incredibly concerned that the Department for Communities has not brought forward a draft within this mandate, especially considering a draft was completed by the Co-Design Group in November 2023, almost three years ago, prior to the current Minister taking up office."
Mr Mac Giolla Bhéin concluded by saying that Conradh na Gaeilge remain unconvinced that an Irish Language strategy is a priority for the Minister of Communities, and that they would continue to look at legal avenues.
Niall Murphy from KRW Law, acting on behalf of Conradh na Gaeilge, said that the failure to adopt a strategy is a matter of grave concern.
“It is my clear view that the Minister for Communities must immediately publish a comprehensive timetable for the development and delivery of an Irish language strategy within a reasonable period of time, to include concrete steps towards, and a concrete date for the adoption of an Irish language strategy.”
