Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“The DUP’s genuflecting to the Irish Language brigade should serve as a warning to all who oppose the de-Britishisation of Northern Ireland that Arlene Foster is preparing to pay Sinn Fein’s price for the return to office.
“TUV is unequivocal in opposing the imposition of an Irish Language Act under any guise. The Irish language is already feted with special funding, a North/South executive body and a privileged Irish medium education sector.
“Insatiable Sinn Fein and its satellites demand more: official status for Irish in Northern Ireland; Irish in our courts, on our road signs and on all government documents; preferment of Irish speakers in the public sector with adverse employment consequences for non-Irish speakers and huge commitment of public money to finance this de-Britishisation programme.
“Having brashly decreed it would not “feed the crocodile” and that it was “Never, Never, Never” to an Irish Language Act, the DUP is clearly weakening its stance and readying to pay the price after the election. Unionists beware.”
Read TUV’s detailed analysis of the proposals put forward by POBAL and Conradh na Gaeilge online.