copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: The DUP at no point has ever agreed to establish an Irish Language Act with the UK government, with the Irish government, with Sinn Féin or anybody else. (Edwin Poots, 2017-01-17)
Evidence (2019-03-08): Tensions with the DUP on several issues besides the RHI scandal likely contributed to Sinn Fein's decision to force snap Assembly elections. The elections were called amid continued uncertainty over the implications for Northern Ireland of "Brexit"—the UK's pending exit from the European Union (EU). The DUP was the only major Northern Ireland political party to back Brexit ahead of the June 2016 referendum on EU membership, and Northern Ireland voted 56% to 44% against leaving the EU (the UK overall voted in favor, 52% to 48%). Other points of contention included the introduction of a potential Irish Language Act—a long-standing nationalist demand to give the Irish language the same official status as English in Northern Ireland—and legalizing same-sex marriage. Both measures are supported by Sinn Fein but opposed by the DUP.11 [...] Two years after Assembly elections, Northern Ireland remains without a devolved government. Negotiations have proceeded in fits and starts but appear to be stalemated at present. Press reports indicate that the biggest sticking point is Sinn Fein's demand for a stand-alone Irish Language Act, which the DUP continues to oppose. Some analysts suggest that the June 2017 UK general election, which resulted in Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party losing its majority in the House of Commons and forming a minority government that relies on support from the DUP, has hardened the positions of the DUP and Sinn Fein and made reaching an agreement on a new devolved government more difficult.14
Claim: The DUP at no point has ever agreed to establish an Irish Language Act with the UK government, with the Irish government, with Sinn Féin or anybody else. (Edwin Poots, 2017-01-17)
Evidence (2024-07-28): The participants to the agreement comprised two sovereign states (the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) with armed and police forces involved in the Troubles. Two political parties, Sinn Féin and the PUP, were linked to paramilitary organisations: the IRA and the UVF respectively. The UDP, which was linked to the UDA, had withdrawn from the talks three months previously. [...] In 2004, negotiations were held between the two governments, the DUP, and Sinn Féin on an agreement to re-establish the institutions. These talks failed, but a document published by the governments detailing changes to the Belfast Agreement became known as the "Comprehensive Agreement". On 26 September 2005, it was announced that the Provisional Irish Republican Army had completely decommissioned its arsenal of weapons and "put them beyond use". Nonetheless, many unionists notably the DUP, remained sceptical. Of the loyalist paramilitaries, only the Loyalist Volunteer Force had decommissioned any weapons.[27] Further negotiations took place in October 2006, leading to the St Andrews Agreement.
Claim: The DUP at no point has ever agreed to establish an Irish Language Act with the UK government, with the Irish government, with Sinn Féin or anybody else. (Edwin Poots, 2017-01-17)
Evidence (2022-02-16): The second leading party on the unionist side was the DUP, formed in the 1970s. Led by the fiery Presbyterian minister, Reverend Ian Paisley, the DUP was even more rigid in rejecting any accommodation with either the nationalists in Northern Ireland (especially through power sharing) or with the Irish government in the South. The DUP largely boycotted the peace negotiations, in part because it insisted on a complete and credible renunciation of violence and prior decommissioning before sitting down with any of the parties linked to paramilitaries (republican or loyalist). Ironically, following the Agreement, the longest period of stable devolved government in Northern Ireland came during a time when the DUP shared power with Sinn Fein (2010–17).41 [...] But political scandal in 2017 led to institutional paralysis, which remains unresolved.80 Inter-communal mistrust remains high, and volatile issues including language, parades, and symbols continue to be flash points. Despite intensive discussions since the Agreement was signed, there is still no agreed mechanism to address historical legacy issues. Brexit further complicates the prospects for the future. The DUP supported Brexit while a modest overall majority — 56 percent — opposed it. Sinn Fein has called Brexit "the most serious threat in the history of the peace process."81
Claim: The DUP at no point has ever agreed to establish an Irish Language Act with the UK government, with the Irish government, with Sinn Féin or anybody else. (Edwin Poots, 2017-01-17)
Evidence (2023-04-03): Supporters of this plan, including the nationalist Sinn Féin party, say it is necessary to protect the Good Friday Agreement. But unionist parties, including the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), say this actually undermines the agreement because it separates them from the rest of the UK. [...] The framework has been formally adopted by the UK and the EU but the DUP has said it will take time before coming to a decision on whether to back the deal and potentially return to power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
Claim: The DUP at no point has ever agreed to establish an Irish Language Act with the UK government, with the Irish government, with Sinn Féin or anybody else. (Edwin Poots, 2017-01-17)
Evidence (2017-02-06): DUP will never agree to Irish language act, says Foster - Published The DUP will never agree to an Irish language act, its leader has said. [...] The introduction of an Irish language act is a key demand of Sinn Féin going into the assembly election.
Claim: The DUP at no point has ever agreed to establish an Irish Language Act with the UK government, with the Irish government, with Sinn Féin or anybody else. (Edwin Poots, 2017-01-17)
Evidence (2024-06-05): Seven thousand Irish-language activists took to the streets of Belfast in May 2022 to lobby for the implementation of an Irish language act which has been denied since it was promised in the Good Friday Agreement nearly 25 years ago. The proponents of such an act are not asking for anything extraordinary. They wish to be able to communicate in Irish with government departments, to use Irish as their everyday language, and to allow politicians to speak it in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The support for an Irish language act is not limited to Sinn Féin – Irish republican and democratic socialist political party – it is also backed by the Irish government, the SDLP, the Alliance Party, and the Green Party. In the meantime, in June 2022, the government of the United Kingdom introduced legislation that will protect Northern Ireland’s native language. This marks the first time such legislation was introduced by the UK government. The UK government has introduced a bill that will grant protection to the Irish language in Northern Ireland. [...] The British government has now acted after years of pressure from campaigners and because the Northern Ireland Executive failed to reach agreement to honor promises to do so. But there could be another motivation: it is unlikely the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) would ever have agreed to officially recognise the Irish language, so this removes a possible stumbling block in any future negotiations to get the power-sharing administration back up and running.
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2024-01-21): Research shows that longer waits in A&E lead to more patient deaths in the 30 days after that hospital visit. By combining those research findings with NI’s waiting time figures, it is possible to make some estimates about the number of additional deaths resulting from longer waits. FactCheckNI’s own calculations led to similar results as those published by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2024-09-04): The Northern Ireland Department of Health points out recent figures show a continued reduction in waiting lists, but said they are still "unacceptably long." [...] The health service has a target that no one should wait more than 12 hours in emergency departments to be treated, discharged or admitted. [...] The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said there is strong evidence more people died in association with emergency department delays in 2022 in Northern Ireland than died during the worst year of the Troubles.
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2024-02-27): Auditors warn that more needs to be done to "identify, and crucially mitigate, the root causes of delays" and point to recent reviews of the North’s commissioning and delivery arrangements which concluded that they were "not fit for purpose".
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2023-01-01): Northern Ireland Protocol: UK and EU remained at odds in 2022 - Published Brexit's aftermath remained an open wound in Northern Ireland's politics and society in 2022. [...] In those early months of 2022, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's main unionist party, had ramped up its opposition to the protocol.
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2022-10-27): Thursday 27 October 2022 18:40, UK
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2024-03-27): "In very simple terms, there is strong evidence that indicates that in 2022, 1,434 people died as a result of delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments." [...] That section includes the following table, which outlines some of its own findings from its examination of deaths caused by long waits in ED – including the 1,434 figure for Northern Ireland – which it refers to as "excess deaths". [...] The article says that the calculation that led to the central claim in this article – that 1,434 people died in 2022 as a result of delays in ED – was made "[using] what Dr McLaughlin describes as ‘robust’ research on excess deaths".
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2024-07-01): Did three times as many people die from delays in A&E in 2022 than died during the worst year of the Troubles? CLAIM: In 2022 in Northern Ireland, delays in hospital emergency departments led to threefold the number of conflict-related deaths during the worst year of the Troubles. [...] Did almost 1,500 people die in NI in one year because of long waits in A&E?
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2024-06-03): - According to an analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, in 2022 in NI a total of 1,434 people died due to delays in emergency departments. [...] An analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found that, in 2022, delays in emergency departments in Northern Ireland led to 1,434 premature deaths. FactCheckNI verified this earlier this year. [...] In short, RCEM’s calculations found that in 2022 1,434 people who attended an emergency department (ED) and were subsequently admitted to hospital died as a result of delays they experienced while in ED – and would otherwise not have died in the 30 days following admission.
Claim: There is strong evidence that in 2022, delays in Northern Ireland’s emergency departments led to the premature deaths of 1,434 people. (Dr Russell McLaughlin, 2024-01-21)
Evidence (2023-02-23): ArticleOpen access14 March 2022
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2019-03-15): This claim is inaccurate. 440 people living in the local government district spoke Irish as their first language, according to the 2011 Census. 22,986 people have some knowledge of the Irish language in this jurisdiction.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2024-09-26): Since the partition of Ireland [edit]Following the partition of Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland (which remained part of the United Kingdom), the largest Irish-speaking area in the former province of Ulster; County Donegal; had gone into the Irish Free State. However, there were Gaeltacht areas (communities who continued to speak Irish as their first language) in Northern Ireland at the time; the most prominent of these were the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone and County Londonderry, Rathlin Island and the Glens of Antrim in County Antrim, Aghyaran in County Tyrone, parts of south Armagh and Cashel in south-west County Fermanagh. Since 1921, the Irish language has been regarded with suspicion by many unionists in Northern Ireland, who have associated it with the Republic of Ireland and with Irish republicanism.[11] [...] Status [edit]Most Irish speakers in Ulster today speak the Donegal dialect of Ulster Irish.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2023-11-17): One year ago, on 26th October 2022, the House of Commons passed the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act, recognising Irish as an official language in Northern Ireland. Six weeks later it received Royal Assent, the final step to becoming law. Introduced in May 2022, the Act followed commitments that were made in the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Good Friday Agreement), a significant foundation of the peace process in Northern Ireland. These commitments were reiterated in the New Decade, New Approach Deal 2020. The Identity and Language Act (the Act) came as an important development for those who have been seeking standalone recognition for the Irish language, akin to the status afforded to Welsh and Scots Gaelic. Language rights have long been a significant and divisive issue in Northern Ireland, with allegiances to both Irish and Ulster Scots entrenched along sectarian lines. These languages are also a representation of cultural and political identity.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2024-09-01): In Northern Ireland, Irish (Gaelic) is now a minority language. According to the 2001 census, 10.4% of Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people had 'some knowledge of Irish'. The main dialect spoken in Northern Ireland is known as Ulster Irish. Before the 17th century, Irish (Gaelic) was more widely spoken in Northern Ireland, although it was spoken in a variety of dialects. During the 20th century the dialects spoken in County Down, County Fermanagh, the Glens of Antrim, County Tyrone, County Londonderry, and Armagh all died out. Varieties of Irish (Gaelic) indigenous to the territory of Northern Ireland finally became extinct as spoken languages when the last native speaker of the Rathlin dialect of Irish (Gaelic) died in 1985. [...] English English is spoken as a first language by almost 100% of the population of Northern Ireland. However, the variety of English spoken in Northern Ireland might be considered a dialect of English. Words like 'wee' (meaning "little") and 'aye' (meaning 'yes') are used in much the same way as they are in the Scots language. The dialect is of course also spoken with an 'Irish' accent – listen to the audio file below.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2017-04-13): The form of Irish spoken in Ulster these days is essentially Donegal Irish, nuanced by the local, predominantly Belfast accent. [...] It’s a different proposition when Ulster Irish is spoken, becoming as understandable to some ears as Swahili. That said, there are differences between Ulster Irish and the rest. Take the different forms for the simple phrase, "How are you?"
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2024-08-12): Mid-Ulster English [edit]The speech in southern and western County Donegal, southern County Tyrone, southern County Londonderry, northern County Fermanagh, north County Armagh, southwestern County Antrim and most of County Down form a geographical band across the province from east to west. On the whole, these areas have much more in common with the Derry accent in the west than inner-city Belfast in the east. This accent is often claimed as being the "standard" Northern Irish dialect as it is the most widely used. Parts of the north of County Monaghan (an area centred on Monaghan Town and known as North Monaghan) would roughly fall into this category, but only to a certain extent. Bundoran, a town at the southern extremity of County Donegal, also has quite a western Ireland accent, as do parts of the south-west extremity of County Fermanagh.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2024-02-20): "The Ulster Protestant Gaelic tradition originates with lonnaitheoirí Albanacha - Scottish settlers who arrived in the 17th century. "Labhair cuid mhór acu Gaeilge - many of them spoke Gaelic or were of Gaelic extraction." [...] The Presbyterian Synod of Ulster ensured that its students for the ministry learned Irish. Significant numbers of native Irish were converted to Protestantism and many English or lucht labhartha na hAlbainise - Scots-speakers learned Irish, the day-to-day language of their new homeland. Add the factors of intermarriage and the Anglicisation of Gaelic surnames and one wonders what tiny fraction of the Protestant population of Ulster has no Gaelic background?
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2022-03-30): Ulster English is a variety of Irish English spoken in Northern Ireland. Most people from the province of Ulster speak this variety that shows a high linguistic diversity. This variety is peculiar because of the contact between the indigenous Irish speakers and the English and Scottish settlers that arrived during the plantation period of the British Empire. However, although there are not that many inhabitants in this country, around 1,811 million, there are some characteristic features that can be seen in only certain parts of this diverse nation. In the following map we can see the tree main varieties that can be found in Northern Ireland: Ulster Scots, Mid-Ulster English and South-Ulster English. In the lower part of the map we can also see Hiberno-English, a variety from the Republic of Ireland that also affects the Northern Irish ones because of their contact in the border. Before analysing any of the varieties it is important to notice that although Donegal and Monaghan are not a part of Northern Ireland, they share Northern Irish varieties because of their closeness to the country and because they are inside de province of Ulster as well. [...] The last variety and for many linguists, the most important one because of its number of speakers is Mid-Ulster English. This variety is often referred to as Standard Northern Irish because it is the most spoken and the one used in the two main cities; Belfast and Derry-Londonderry.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2003-03-09): Although Scots dominated in much of County Down, there were also Yorkshiremen in North Down (Braidwood, 1964:14); people from Devon, Cheshire, and Lancashire settled in the northwest of the county and along the River Lagan (Braidwood, 1964:20), where we find Moira, another of our locations. Bordering on this area, in South Antrim, two of the biggest Plantation landlords, Lord Lieutenant (or Viceroy) Sir Arthur Chichester and Moses Hill, also introduced settlers from Devon, Cheshire, and Lancashire (Braidwood, 1964:11–12, 14). Moira, located midway between the towns of Lisburn and Lurgan, was settled by the English (Braidwood, 1964:21). The Englishness of this part of Ulster was still praised in the late eighteenth century, when Lurgan was known as "Little England," according to one traveller (Luckombe, 1780). And of Lisburn, Hume (1878:8–9) commented that "Until the end of the last century there was a tradition in Ulster that pure English was spoken in the neighbourhood of Lisburn." In the 1830s, Moira was mixed in religion, though local school registers indicate a predominance of Anglicans, a sign of Englishness (Day & McWilliams, 1992a:119–120). The dialect was, therefore, probably Mid-Ulster English.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2020-10-27): Language and Dialect Contact in Ireland: The Phonological Origins of Mid-Ulster English [...] Maguire, Warren, 'Background', Language and Dialect Contact in Ireland: The Phonological Origins of Mid-Ulster English (Edinburgh, 2020; online edn, Edinburgh Scholarship Online, 23 Sept. 2021), https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474452908.003.0002, accessed 9 Oct. 2024. This chapter explores the linguistic history of Ulster, briefly examining (lack of) evidence for English in the province before the 17th century, describing the Plantation of Ulster and its associated settlements (a process of settlement colonisation), and discussing the demographic and linguistic transformation of the province that resulted. It explores the decline in Irish in the province in detail, not only in the Plantation period but in subsequent centuries, showing that the loss of Irish in most of Ulster was a result of the settlements and a slow process of language shift thereafter, being almost complete by the end of the 19th century. The chapter also touches upon the possible linguistic significance of the ethno-religious divide in the province, how it might relate to the linguistic history just described, and how it might have affected the phonological development of MUE.
Claim: No one in Mid Ulster speaks Irish as their first language. (DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson, 2019-03-15)
Evidence (2024-08-08): English is by far the most spoken, and the "de facto" national language of Northern Ireland,[citation needed]; it occurs in various forms, including Ulster English and Hiberno-English. Irish is an official language of Northern Ireland since 2022,[3] and the local variety of Scots, known as Ulster Scots, has official minority status, with services in the language provided by public authorities.[4][5] Northern Ireland Sign Language and Irish Sign Language have also been recognised with minority status since 29 March 2004.[6][7] [...] The Irish used in Northern Ireland is primarily of the Ulster Irish dialect, with An Caighdéan (the standardised written Irish of the Republic of Ireland) rarely encountered. [...] The dialect generally spoken in Northern Ireland, Ulster Irish or Donegal Irish,[17] is the one closest to Scottish Gaelic (which developed into a separate language from Irish Gaelic in the 10th century). Some words and phrases are shared with Scots Gaelic, and the extinct dialects of east Ulster – those of Rathlin Island and the Glens of Antrim – were very similar to the dialect of Argyll, one of the parts of Scotland nearest to Northern Ireland.