The Irish Language and the Good Friday Agreement

Abstract

Since partition, Irish speakers in the North have operated in a hostile environment, unable to benefit directly from Southern Constitutional protections for Irish, from Southern policy initiatives or funding for the language. Under such circumstances, they undoubtedly recognised the totality of need within their community. From the 1940s and for some four decades, they focussed on small-scale, independent projects to revitalise the language and increase incrementally their own personal Irish Medium social, employment and educational spheres. Today, observers of the language revival may see IME as a venture of extraordinary scope and range, and arguably, there were those involved in the establishment of Belfast’s Shaw’s Road Gaeltacht initiative and the first IM school in 1971 that had a complete vision of how to proceed and of what could be achieved. Even so, in general, Irish language initiatives have grown slowly in localised, bite-sized pieces from initially tiny, self-funded projects set up by enthusiasts. Local committees, largely untrained and unsupported by anything other than the experience of those who had gone before, have struggled to overcome each obstacle as they encountered it. Irish language activists chose this path, or perhaps had it forced upon them, by a belief that success could only be achieved through their own, self-sustainable efforts. Attempts to impact upon, form partnerships with statutory authorities and with government or to expand provision through legislative approaches were so negative in this period that many Irish language activists continue to place significant emphasis on self-sufficiency.

Those who seek to defend a threatened language … are obliged to wage a total struggle. One cannot save the value of a competence unless one saves the market, in other words, the whole set of political and social conditions of production of the producers/ consumers. (Bourdieu 1991, p. 57)