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 (2022-12-06): THE passing of Irish language legislation at Westminster has been welcomed as a "historic milestone" by campaigners who are now seeking the implementation of the law, including the appointment of the north's first Irish commissioner. The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons back in May, completed its Westminster journey on Monday, receiving royal assent and officially repealing legislation from 1737 that among other outworkings banned the use of Irish in courts. [...] The bill was introduced at Westminster after the British government warned last year it would do so in an attempt to break a stand-of between Sinn Féin and the DUP over its introduction at the Stormont Assembly.
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 (2014-12-17): The DUP's Gregory Campbell remains unapologetic about remarks he made last month about the use of the language in the assembly by some Sinn Féin MLAs. [...] An Irish language act, aimed at helping to support and protect the language, could create an entitlement to use Irish in interactions with government bodies and a number of other services. However, the actual proposals are not yet available and the minister responsible, Sinn Féin's Carál Ní Chúilín, told Spotlight that she would bring an Irish language bill before the assembly in the New Year.
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 (2022-02-09): Irish and Ulster Scots: DUP and Sinn Féin row delays legislation - Published [...] The party's West Belfast assembly member Aisling Reilly called on the government to "get on with implementing its commitments and legislate for an Acht Gaeilge [Irish language legislation]". [...] Last summer, after another crisis at Stormont, Sinn Féin said it would not agree to the appointment of a new DUP first minister without movement on Irish language legislation.
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 (2017-04-01): One of the stumbling blocks in resolving the current political crisis in Northern Ireland is the Sinn Féin demand for an Irish language Act. So where does the DUP fit into this, asks Eamonn Mallie? [...] The DUP contends that because its alternative Act to an Irish Language Act contains ‘statutory provisions’ for Irish then that is very significant advance from their perspective. [...] The DUP continues to resist a ‘free standing Irish Language Act.’ That is the stumbling block right now.
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 (2024-09-02): The two unionist parties, the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party, have been reluctant to support an Act whereas the nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party, have traditionally been in favour of legislation. [...] The British government, in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement, promised to introduce an Irish Language Act in Northern Ireland – yet the legislation which followed in 2007 that gave legal effect to the agreement made no mention of such an act. Language legislation was devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly at that point. [...] Legal protection of a language helps to remove it from the domain of confrontational party politics. The introduction of an Irish Language Act would mean that Northern Ireland would no longer be in breach of national and international agreements regarding language rights and the personal preferences of individual ministers would no longer dictate the level of support the language receives. An agreed legal framework for Irish would also mean that those who do not wish to engage with the language would be protected, irrespective of fluctuations in political governance and electoral politics. Irish could not be enforced in education or any other sphere to the point where it becomes an issue of compulsion or obligation on the citizen.
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 (2023-11-22): It was no great surprise then that the language re-emerged time and time again in political negotiations as the community continued to assert their demands for bespoke language rights. In 2006 at St Andrew’s, an Irish language Act was promised by the British Government, in an attempt to fill the void left by the lack of language rights enshrined in the 1998 legislation. At Hillsborough in 2010, the Irish Language Investment Fund was established and funded £8million by the British Government to support community capital and capacity developments across the north. The Irish language continued to be an outstanding issue simply because it was never comprehensively addressed by any single agreement, nor were many of those commitments ever truly fulfilled. And whilst community frustrations grew and grew, political unionism’s opposition to the language, and regressive, petty and often sectarian attacks, ensued. The language would be mocked and ridiculed, while schemes or initiatives set up to promote the language would be cancelled or cut by Unionist Ministers. The decade following the St Andrew’s Agreement was one entirely removed from the ‘resolute action’ envisaged in 1998.
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 (2021-06-17): The UK government has committed to legislating at Westminster on the Irish language and other cultural provisions if they are not dealt with at Stormont by October. [...] This has been around since an Irish Language Act was first agreed at St Andrew’s 15 years ago, and given the last few weeks have demonstrated yet again the tensions around it. While a way has been found around this latest impasse, it seems unlikely that the road ahead will not throw up further roadblocks, not least given the continuing opposition to Irish language legislation within some sections of unionism and – given its record on other matters – the dependence for this latest solution on the word of the UK government.
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 (2017-01-17): DUP never agreed to Irish language act at St Andrews, says Edwin Poots [...] The DUP never agreed to an Irish language act at St Andrews, according to its MLA Edwin Poots. Signed by the DUP, Sinn Fein and the British and Irish Governments in 2006, the St Andrews Agreement pledged "Government would introduce an Irish Language Act reflecting on the experience of Wales and Ireland and work with the incoming Executive to enhance and protect the development of the Irish language".
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 (2021-06-18): Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme earlier this week, Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard said there was "simply no basis for power-sharing" if there was no agreement from the DUP to progress Irish Language legislation. [...] Sinn Féin had stood firm that it would not agree to support a new DUP First Minister without first receiving guarantees that Irish language legislation would be enacted. [...] The British government had agreed to introduce an Irish Language Act in Northern Ireland if the Stormont Assembly fails to do so by the end of September.
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 (2023-12-18): What about the Irish Language Act (ILA)? That became a key request for Sinn Féin in the negotiations to restore Stormont. It was also the major sticking point for the DUP. [...] The DUP Leader, Arlene Foster said that her party would not accept a "one-sided deal". Her party’s opposition centred on Sinn Féin’s desire for a standalone Irish Language Act: [...] However, this included no commitment to a standalone ILA. Instead, it promised "the introduction and enactment of three Bills" to protect the Irish language, to protect the Ulster Scots language and tradition and to create a role of Ulster Scots Commissioner, and to establish an Office of Identity and Cultural Expression.
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 (2021-06-15): The party has said it will refuse to go back into power-sharing with the DUP unless there is a firm commitment to an Irish language act. It says the DUP leader Edwin Poots has told it privately that he cannot deliver on that commitment at this time. [...] Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Sinn Féin MLA and Northern Ireland Finance Minister Conor Murphy said that if the Irish language legislation is delivered within the time frame agreed last January, then it would allow Sinn Féin to move ahead and nominate a deputy first minister. [...] "If the DUP and Sinn Féin cannot find a way to deliver the Irish language and other cultural commitments that they made last year, then we will step up, step in and seek to table amendments to legislation due at Westminster next week."
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 (2021-10-28): Another potential crisis could be looming at Stormont with Sinn Féin saying it has been assured that the British government will introduce an Irish Language Act soon, and the DUP warning it not to. [...] Speaking during a visit to the birthplace of the Orange Order in Loughgall in Co Armagh this afternoon, Mr Donaldson said his party had made it clear to the British government that it should not act on its commitment on the Irish language. [...] "The Irish Language Act is something that was promised as far back as the St Andrew's agreement and now it needs to be delivered upon."
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 (2020-01-09): Fourteen years after the signing of the St Andrews Agreement in which the British government agreed to introduce an Irish Language Act (ILA) the issues surrounding this proposed piece of legislation continue to divide opinion. [...] So why the controversy? Political unionism for many years has had an uncomfortable relationship with Irish and its speakers. The idea of an Irish Language Act is controversial is because language is at the heart of culture and identity. [...] For them and many others in the wider community, the introduction of a stand-alone Irish Language Act is the only way to ensure the language and those who choose to use it are protected and respected.
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 (2022-12-07): Legislation negotiated by the Irish and British governments two years ago has received Royal Assent and will officially become law, giving official status to the Irish language for the first time in Northern Ireland. [...] The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill passed through the House of Lords and House of Commons in October and has now become law after it received royal assent from King Charles on Tuesday. The legislation includes a commitment to establish the office of an Irish language commissioner and an Ulster Scots commissioner, to provide official recognition of the status of the Irish language and to repeal the Penal Law-era Administration of Justice (Language) Act 1737 which forbade the use of Irish in the courts.
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 (2022-02-27): LAST WEEK, A DUP member claimed that his party had never agreed to establish an Irish Language Act in Northern Ireland. [...] On the other side of the debate is Sinn Féin’s take. Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, a former Minister for Regional Development in the Assembly said that the DUP committed to an Irish Language Act as part of St Andrews Agreement. [...] The DUP’s claim that they never agreed to establish an Irish Language Act as part of St Andrews Agreement is true, as the legislation refers to the British government’s commitment to an Irish Language Act, not the DUP’s.
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 (2024-02-16): Another milestone came in 2010 with the Hillsborough Agreement, in which Sinn Fein and the DUP finally agreed on terms for the devolution of policing and justice functions, as well as a roadmap for managing sectarian parades. By the mid-2010s, the political institutions envisioned in the Good Friday Agreement were generally functioning well, as parties with starkly differing views served together in government. [...] The DUP and Sinn Fein were unable to resolve their differences for nearly three years. Northern Ireland was left without a local government until January 2020, when the two parties made a deal to reopen Stormont. In a major compromise, the deal included an agreement to promote the local Irish and Ulster Scots languages. It also marked the first time that the devolved government was led by two women, First Minister Arlene Foster (DUP) and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill (Sinn Fein). However, cooperation was short-lived. Foster stepped down in April 2021 after facing pressure over new trade checks on goods traveling to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK as a consequence of the Northern Ireland Protocol. She was replaced by the DUP’s Paul Givan, who in turn resigned in February 2022 in protest against the protocol. May 2022 elections made Sinn Fein the largest party in the assembly for the first time, but the DUP’s continued boycott kept the government out of commission into 2024. In January 2024, the UK government reached a deal with the DUP to update the protocol and pave the way for a restored government under Sinn Fein’s O’Neill as first minister.
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 (2024-07-06): - Many of the issues facing Northern Ireland cannot be addressed without proper government legislation, something that is currently impossible due to the fact that the Northern Ireland government is shut down because of disagreements between the two main parties. [...] This exact event happened in January 2017 when the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, walked out of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary building, Stormont. His refusal to come back to Parliament forced the First Minister at the time, Arlene Foster, to also resign from her seat. This resulted in the entire government shutting down.87 Many claim that Sinn Fein was politically motivated to shut down the government because their political counterparts refused to pass the Irish Language Act, a law that would allow the native Irish language of Gaelic to be taught and used freely in Northern Ireland.88 As of July 2019, Northern Ireland’s government has been shut down for two and a half years with no solid answer of if or when it will be reinstated.89 Though claims have been made for months that Sinn Fein and the DUP have been in talks about making resolutions, the lack of movement at Stormont has caused much frustration to both the citizens of Northern Ireland and the British parliament who has been delegated the charge of policymaking in the country while the government is shut down.90
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 (2024-10-09): Lloyd George’s government then negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, with Sinn Féin. The treaty gave the new Irish Free State dominion status within the British Empire, but it also permitted the six counties of Northern Ireland to opt out of the arrangement, which they did.
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 (2020-01-10): But nearly three years ago there was a power-sharing argument between the two governing parties (the DUP - or Democratic Unionist Party - and Sinn Fein), which led to the government at Stormont being dissolved - and it has yet to form again. [...] The DUP and Sinn Fein came out on top as the two largest parties in Northern Ireland, which meant they had to reach an agreement to form a new government. That has yet to happen - almost a year and a half later. The two parties disagree on numerous issues - for example investigations into killings during the Troubles and a law to give official status to the Irish language.
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 (1998-07-01): With regard to the issues put to the Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party by the Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, what is the policy of the Ulster Unionists on sitting down with Sinn Fein, which, according to the Prime Minister, is inextricably linked with Provisional IRA, while the Provisional IRA declares that it will retain all its weaponry? All the Members of this Assembly want Mr Trimble to answer that key question — particularly members of his own party. If he shares the views of the Prime Minister can he give an unequivocal assurance to all those within the broader Unionist family that he will not sit down in government with members of a party that is inextricably linked with a listed terrorist organisation which intends to retain all its weaponry? [...] I want to make a point for Mr Dodds's information. The Irish language has been used by Sinn Fein members for years - 15 years in Belfast City Council and other councils - and it will continue to be used by them. [...] We in the Democratic Unionist Party are in this House not because we are afraid of anything or anybody but because we were elected in substantial numbers by the people of Northern Ireland. We made it clear that we would never negotiate with IRA/Sinn Fein, and we have not gone back on our pledge. But we have always said in councils and elsewhere that we would never run away from any elected body, that we would confront those who want to take us down a united-Ireland route.
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 (2023-08-29): Of course, the unionists and the British were giving off about it, which meant there must have been something decent in it. We were trying to work out a position that reflected those types of broad principles in Irish government approach and policy. Also, Sinn Féin was a banned organization. Sinn Féin was a censored organization. Sinn Féin was banned from the use of municipal halls and town halls and so on in the Southern state. Interviews couldn't be carried at all in the Southern state. Voices of Sinn Féin representatives couldn't be carried in the Northern state or in Britain itself. [...] We then move forward to the point where we think we have all the parts of the jigsaw together. We have an agreement of sorts between ourselves and the Irish government, but it needs to be tied down. We have an agreement much more clearly between myself and John Hume. [...] So in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, the UUP [Ulster Unionist Party] wouldn't talk to us. Some of the UUP, including its current leaders, walked out of the negotiations, and the DUP didn't walk in, so the DUP weren't there. We had a Good Friday Agreement made, and we were prepared to talk to anybody that would talk to us.
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 (2020-04-07): In November, both the UUP and Sinn Féin announced their commitments to the full implementation of the agreement, and all other main political parties did the same. On November 18, Mitchell’s review ended, concluding that the basis for a power-sharing executive and devolution still existed, and thus that it was still possible to implement the Belfast Agreement. The UUP, whose resistance had been key, voted to support Mitchell’s decisions and endorse the Executive, pending a final decision to be made in February of 2000. Ian Paisley and the DUP completely rejected any negotiations with Sinn Féin, the SDLP, or the Irish Government, but the UUP controlled most of the Unionist vote. On November 29, Northern Ireland Assembly met and 10 ministers were appointed for the Executive. The next day, both houses of Parliament voted to approve the order for devolution, ending direct rule. The new devolved government finally became operational on December 2 of 1999. On the same day, Ireland made a historic concession by surrendering its claim on Ulster. [...] By 2006, even the most resistant to power sharing were beginning to accept the change. In response to an agreement between the British and Irish governments, even Ian Paisley showed willingness to share power with Sinn Féin as long as they made concessions on the issue of policing, which they did in January of 2007. In March of 2007, elections were held for the Assembly, and a deadline was set for the two majority parties to select their candidates for First Minister and Deputy First Minister.