Irish Act is worth it if only to restore power

THE DUP and Sinn Fein are fighting a battle that is 95 years old. From the moment Northern Ireland was created, the principal policy of the unionists has been to suppress the voice of nationalist Catholics.

No matter what Arlene Foster says, the fear of the DUP is that once Catholics have a voice the Union is finished (which is rubbish, of course). But that is why the Irish Language Act has such a huge symbolic resonance. For what could give the Irish more of a voice than their own language?

However, what will be the consequences of the passing of the Act? The Assembly will once more assemble and Northern Ireland will have a government again. The DUP will have lost face because of their prolonged intransigence and Sinn Fein will have gained a symbolic victory that will have done nothing to improve the life of a single citizen.

And the cost? Months of administrative stagnation while DUP and Sinn Fein MLAs reneged on their responsibilities. How much time will it take to catch up on those lost months?

Add to this the price of doubling the printing expenses of every Government document in duplicate, the fees of independent interpreters to translate the English documents into Irish, and the scrapping of every piece of official stationery and replacing all with new English/Irish letterheads.

Is it a price worth paying? Yes, if it really does get Stormont working again. DENIS MAYNE Bangor, Co Down