Sinn Féin's northern leader has been challenged by seasoned RTE journalist Tommie Gorman over the number of party representatives who speak Irish fluently.
At a press conference in Belfast yesterday morning, the national broadcaster's northern editor took Michelle O'Neill to task about the number of Gaeilgeoirí in the previous Stormont executive.
His remarks came after Sinn Féin rejected Arlene Foster's proposal to bring forward legislation on language and culture in an agreed timeframe.
"What cognisance do you take of the fact that in that room of the DUP executive (sic) there wasn't one fluent Irish speaker – not one person who can speak the Irish language in a fluent way?" he said.
"In your own group (at the press conference) there are five of you here; none of you speak Irish regularly and maybe three, four, five of your 27 members in the defunct assembly... speak Irish fluently."
Ms O'Neill said the demand for an Irish language act and other measures were not solely Sinn Féin's.
"Well Tommie, these are not a demand for Sinn Féin – these are demands for society," she said.
"Good government, rights for all citizens, whether you be an Irish language speaker, whether you want to be married and you're from the LGBT community – these are rights for absolutely everybody."
Earlier this year The Irish News revealed that five Sinn Féin candidates standing in March's assembly election were fully fluent in Irish. They were: Declan Kearney, Barry McElduff, Sean Lynch, Cathal Ó hOisín and Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.
