Irish language should not be 'bargaining chip' for a united Ireland

The Irish language should not be used as a "bargaining chip" to help unionists accept a united Ireland.

Irish language speakers should also be "proactive" in planning for Irish unity.

Those are key conclusions from a report commissioned by a leading language body.

It comes on the back of a major shift in policy by Conradh na Gaeilge (CnaG) "to work towards a united Ireland".

The report said that the participation of Irish speakers "could significantly benefit the wider campaign for Irish unity".

It is called A United Ireland: A Transformative Opportunity for the Irish language and Gaeltacht and was written by Róisín Nic Liam.

The report said that Irish unity and the prospect of a border poll is now an area of significant public debate.

It cites, for example, BBC Northern Ireland's Borderland podcast which reflected views for and against a united Ireland.

The report argues that the Irish language has been treated "as something which must be reconsidered or 'de-emphasised', in the event of Irish unity, or offered up as a bargaining chip or a symbolic concession to be negotiated".

It said that the language has often been "framed as an 'imposition' on the unionist community".

For instance the report said that the former Taoiseach (Irish PM), Leo Varadkar, had "argued for certain 'concessions' to accommodate unionists, including 'de-emphasising the Irish language'".

As a result, the report argues, the Irish language is often seen as something that should be "curtailed" in a united Ireland.

That includes making learning Irish optional - rather than compulsory - in schools, reducing its role in public life including on street signs and putting Irish on equal footing with English and Ulster-Scots in a new constitution.

"The rights of one minority should not be curtailed in order to accommodate those of another in a united Ireland," the report said.

It concluded that Irish speakers should be "active participants" in a campaign for a border poll to secure a better future for the language "in a new Ireland".

Nic Liam told BBC News NI that a united Ireland would be "an unprecedented opportunity for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht".

"The Irish language is consistently presented as a controversial symbol of nationalism, and is presented accordingly in the most negative and regressive terms," she said.

She said that Irish was, instead, "a living community language across Ireland".

"We must look at the entire island and how the relationship can be improved with the language across all 32 counties," Nic Liam said.

Nic Liam said that Irish had originally been "politicised" by the English in Ireland, with historic acts like the 14th century Statute of Kilkenny which made it illegal to speak the language.

"Language rights are a political issue and there's no shying away from that, I suppose," she said.

"Irish language speakers and those who are sympathetic to the language are looking towards Irish unity now as an opportunity to put the Irish language at the heart of a new political agreement".

Conradh na Gaeilge is a cross-border Irish language organisation which is over 130 years old.

It is a member-run organisation which promotes the Irish-language and advocates for the rights of Irish speakers.

Members of Conradh na Gaeilge recently voted to change its constitution "to work towards a united Ireland for the benefit of the Irish language".

The organisation was hugely influential in advocating for new Irish language laws in Northern Ireland.

The university's logo is on the front of the report, alongside the Conradh na Gaeilge logo. And the author Róisín Nic Liam is a PhD student at Queen's.

The report was also launched in the university's Seamus Heaney Centre.

In a statement to BBC News NI, a university spokesperson said that "Queen's University is committed to freedom of thought and expression, within a framework of respect for the rights of other persons".

"Academic Freedom is enshrined as a guiding principle in the University's Charter and Statutes," they said.

"The University fully supports the right of its academics to publish work and express academic opinion within this framework."

In 2022, some unionists had criticised the use of the university's logo on a report called Making a Case for Irish Unity in the EU written by QUB Professor Colin Harvey.

Prof Harvey is a board member of the Ireland's Future organisation and has written the foreword to the A United Ireland report.

Reacting to the report on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, the TUV's Matthew Warwick said the report showed that Irish language was "the weapon of choice for republicanism to achieve a united Ireland".

"This is a political manifesto for Sinn Féin in all but word and deed," he said.

"Every unionist has to read this document."

But Conradh na Gaeilge's Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin said the Irish language was often viewed as "a controversial emblem of nationalism and not as a living community language".

"The Irish language can actually play a transformational role, a liberational role for people," he said.

"And provide people with another avenue with which to engage in this debate on the future direction of the country and to do so in a democratic, transparent way."