How many NI people speak Irish Gaelic?

[Miljea]

This map suggests very few, so is it sensible to make such a song and dance about it regarding the deal being struck to reopen power sharing?

I would have thought there were better things to spend money on!

Restoring the Irish language as the first language of the people of the island of Ireland is a key aim for Sinn Finn and always has been. It may not seem important to you, but it is obviously pretty important to a lot of people in NI.

'Restoring' the language- does that mean making it compulsory in school? Printing every government document in Gaelic? Every sign?

How much would that cost?

I don’t imagine it would cost any more than doing those things in English?!

It’s not a cost thing, anyway, as I’m sure you are aware. It’s a political, cultural aim of an Irish nationalist party.

I’m from a unionist background but DH is a gaelgoir so I’ve picked up a tiny bit of Irish, and can have a good go at pronouncing words that I’ve seen written down.

I have no passion for the language, but I think the act is important to reclaim Irish for everyone in NI, as opposed to just the republican/nationalist community.

So much of our history and culture has a root in the Irish language- even placenames like Ballysillan, Shankill and Connswater. Linda Ervine is doing stellar work in East Belfast depoliticising it with her campaign and teaching work.

Not everything is to be automatically translated. The act is to ensure that if someone wanted a government document translated they would rightfully entitled to it.

Irish is the indigenous language of the country and you are right that it is a minority language and this is the very reason its status and accessibility needs to be protected. There are acts for the Welsh and Scots Gaelic languages so this is bringing NI in parity with the rest of the UK.

The ILA was agreed to under the St Andrew's Agreement in 2006 so is it is far from being a new concept.

Whilst I do agree that there are some very important issues such as health and education that require addressing first it should not be a case of either or. Promotion of culture should be a very integral part of any society, particularly a shared society as NI.

I wish the Irish language could be depoliticised. I am catholic so studied it at school and really loved it as I found it fascinating to study a language where the sentence structure was so different and the means of expression so poetic. I wanted to take it for GCSE but my family discouraged me as it would make me look like a SF supporter. I did Spanish instead and it has always been a regret.

First of all, it's just called "Irish" when speaking or writing in English.

Everyone who grows up in ROI learns Irish til they leave school, and most of us don't speak it or even understand much as adults at all. Most would agree the language should be protected and preserved though.

I think anyone with a cursory knowledge of a) how English became the first language of the island of Ireland and b) the history of Northern Ireland, would understand why many NI nationalists feel the language is an important cultural issue.

Téigh go hIfreann!