IRISH language advocacy group Conradh na Gaeilge have lodged judicial review proceeding against the Executive, including Communities’ Minister Gordon Lyons, on their failure to bring forward and adopt an Irish Language Strategy.
Conradh na Gaeilge has brought two previous Judicial Review cases before the High-Court against the Executive in 2017 and 2022 and on both occasions received declarations that the Executive had been in breach of its statutory duty to adopt an Irish language Strategy. The most recent judgement from Justice Scoffield in August 2022 declared “it was incumbent upon the Executive to act with alacrity”, ruling that a delay of 12 months was not “reasonable”.
Dr Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh from Conradh na Gaeilge said: “An Irish Language Strategy will set out the Executive’s plan to promote and develop the language over the coming 20 years. The original statutory duty was imposed in law in 2007. We have had two very decisive High Court declarations since then calling for the Executive to act with urgency.
"Almost 20 years on, we should now be preparing our second Irish Language Strategy. Unfortunately, we haven’t even seen a draft of our first. Irish language organisations have been working tirelessly as part of a Co-Design Process since 2021 to develop a Strategy that will make a difference, helping families, parents, schools, communities and the state to develop their Irish language support structures.”
He added: "To have to return to the courts for a third time is simply unacceptable. It is our opinion that both the Executive and the Minister for Communities have failed to uphold their legal duties in bringing forward this Strategy, and we have seen nothing to convince us that this is in any way a priority for the Minister in charge of its development.”
Niall Murphy, KRW Law, acting on behalf of Conradh na Gaeilge, said: "Our application will seek the courts to remedy these persistent and flagrant failures, by way of an Order for Mandamus, to immediately publish a comprehensive timetable 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.”
