SINN Féin's Pat Sheehan has criticised the use of the Petition of Concern to block legislation around Irish-medium education as a "disgraceful abuse of a mechanism designed to protect minorities".
Despite the use of the petition to block the Bill, the West Belfast MLA's Irish-medium Education (Workforce Plan) Bill was still debated on Tuesday night. Exchanges in the Stormont chamber lasted nearly three hours and continued past midnight, but no vote was held due to the petition.
The use of the mechanism has triggered a 14-day "consideration period" before assembly members can make their decision. The consideration period for the petition ends on 22 November, and the petition may be confirmed on the 23 November.
If the petition is confirmed by 30 MLAs, the vote on the final stage of the bill will require cross-community support. If it is not confirmed by 30 MLAs, the vote will require simple majority support.
Pat Sheehan was speaking during the debate late on Tuesday night. He said that loyalist activist Jamie Bryson has been "swinging the DUP round by the tail for quite a while now". Mr Sheehan added that this use of the mechanism was part of an "ugly sectarian pattern".
The West Belfast MLA said that "children's education is not a bargaining chip to help the DUP hold themselves together" and criticised the use of the petition as "anti-Irish bigotry and Unionist supremacism".
"How does he tell Irish speaking families that they belong while voting a plan for their children's future?" Mr Sheehan continued.
Alliance MLA Nick Mathison, Chair of Stormont's Education Committee, said that the "Bill was not about preferential treatment" and that Irish-medium education has been "constrained from growing to meet the rise in demand".
He described the Bill as "totally sensible and reasonable" and labelled the use of the Petition of Concern as a "disgrace".
Describing the veto as "entirely unnecessary" he said he "suspects that this is about something more than policy".
He referenced Drumcree and said that "Unionists must be seen to be taking a hard line" after the dispute, and said that "schools have been turned into a pawn in internal politics of unionism".
The Alliance MLA said that the "whole exercise is indefensible," and that it had "been a privilege to engage" with Irish-medium activists during the Bill's committee stage.
He said he had "profound disappointment at the decision taken by those who have chosen to veto this bill," and expressed his regret about not learning Irish earlier in his life.
Concluding his opening remarks, he said that the Bill was "simply about fairness and equality" and that "Alliance utterly rejects the zero-sum politics offered by parties who have signed the Petition of Concern".
The DUP's David Brooks, who also sits on Stormont's Education Committee, said that he "recognised Irish-medium education" is an "established part" of the education system. He said he "recognised workforce challenges" in the sector, but that "nobody is being punished" by the use of the Petition of Concern.
Mr Brooks said the DUP had used a lawful mechanism and – again referencing the Drumcree dispute – criticised members of Sinn Féin who "block roads and break the law".
The SDLP's Cara Hunter said that "the Irish language was here long before" the DUP, UUP and the TUV and that it would "certainly be here long after" the parties. Saying that she was "sorry to say it," the East Derry MLA said it made members who have signed the Petition of Concern "look bigoted".
