IT is clear that attempts by loyalist elements to intimidate Irish language enthusiasts as they maintain a low-key presence outside what are perceived as nationalist districts are escalating and have reached disturbing levels.
The launch of a six-month Irish conversation class for beginners in the mainly unionist village of Castlerock in Co Derry was a small but positive step which should have been welcomed as an example of cultural diversity.
It is deeply alarming that it had to be cancelled before a scheduled enrolment session earlier this week when, as we reported yesterday, threats were understood to have been received from loyalist paramilitary sources.
Both Causeway Coast and Glens Council, who own the Peter Thompson Community Centre, and the course organisers are believed to have been made aware of the sinister intervention, and police have confirmed that an investigation is under way.
It follows the bizarre recent engagement between the DUP education minister Paul Givan and the Loyalist Communities Council, which includes representatives of paramilitary groups, when plans for a small new Irish language primary school in east Belfast were discussed.
The proposed Scoil na Seolta is not due to receive public funding and its construction on a vacant site on Montgomery Road, a main thoroughfare, has been granted full planning permission by Belfast City Council.
According to the Department of Education, the meeting had been due to examine the entirely valid and well documented subject of underachievement by school pupils in unionist areas.
Instead, it has since emerged that one participant somehow felt it was appropriate to raise issues relating to Scoil na Seolta, claiming that it was causing “causing polarity and volatility in the community”.
Despite the approval secured through the council’s standard processes, it was suggested that the project had “no meaningful support from the local unionist and loyalist population, and no consultation had taken place with local residents”.
The Department of Education has not indicated the response from the minister but it is perplexing that the LCC was able to put its confrontational views on Scoil na Seolta to him in the first place.
Linda Ervine, who happens to come from a Protestant and unionist background, has been coordinating the establishment of the Irish medium school, and has demonstrated that all the related official guidelines have been fully observed.
Scoil na Seolta and the Castlerock class are perfectly normal and straightforward projects which do not deserve to be treated with any kind of hostility by loyalist figures.
It must be hoped that our politicians from all backgrounds give their public support to the children and adults involved, and firmly oppose any hint that Irish speakers might be forced out of unionist districts.
