DWP attitude to Irish resembles that of Labour in Wales.

The problems facing the devolved legislature  in Northern Ireland possibly mystifies many here in Wales but there  is an element of Déjà vu   when it comes to the argument for a Welsh language Act

.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster has said there will be no free-standing Irish Language act.

She told BBC News NI she wanted to "clarify matters," because some speculation had been "off the mark".

 On Tuesday, the DUP leader said there would be no compulsory Irish language in schools, no one would be forced to learn Irish, there would be no quotas for Irish speakers in the civil service and there would be no bilingual road signs.

 According to the BBC

Mrs Foster would not be drawn on reports that the package under discussion includes three separate bills or acts dealing with Irish, Ulster Scots and other cultural matters.
She said the parties were trying to find an accommodation in which one language is not valued over another in a way which amounts to cultural or language supremacy.Mrs Foster was asked on several occasions whether the package she is discussing includes an Irish language act or bill, but did not directly answer the question.

The DUP leader said her test for any proposal is whether it impinges on the rights of those who are British or in any way weakens the union.
Her message was reinforced by a standard letter issued to DUP elected representatives to use if they receive any criticism.
The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the BBC, says the party's manifesto makes it "absolutely clear" that the DUP "won't sign up to any deal that diminishes Northern Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom".
It elaborates on some of the aspects touched on by Mrs Foster, saying that "if that's the price of a deal, then there will be no deal".
Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said the DUP needed to "make up their mind" about whether they are "up for a deal or not".
"They [the DUP] know that the agreement requires an Acht Gaeilge."
"There is a responsibility on all involved not to react to some of the noise from people who simply don't want an agreement," he added.

Supporters of an Irish Language  Act  point to the 1993 Welsh language Act of 1993which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector.

However it was hard fought for with decades of campaigning  and civil disobedience , with opposition from senior Welsh Polticians including many in the Labour  Party.

The reason for this opposition was the same as the DUP's  to Irish in that they saw  it giving in to the Nationalist (Plaid Cymru) and the fear that   it would foster a Welsh rather than British Identity.

 It unfortunately carries on, usually on a local level  especially where Labour see a growth in support for Welsh language education leading to sypport for Plaid Cymru.

In 2001 Lanour Newport West MP Paul Flynn attacked his own party for for "shamefully" ignoring the state of the Welsh language in order to further the party's electoral position.
  Sspeaking in the Welsh language current affairs magazine Barn, said greater efforts had to be made to protect the Welsh language.


Mr Flynn said some Labour politicians were guilty of joining a tabloid "witchhunt" against the language "in the belief that it is politically advantageous". He said there was hesititation by officials in their efforts to preserve Welsh-speaking areas of Wales. 

 Sadly, most of the party leadership is content to stand aside and collect the electoral dividend of Plaid Cymru's divisions," Mr Flynn said in the article.
"Shamefully, some Labour representatives have joined the (tabloid) witchhunt in the belief that it is politically advantageous."

 Back in  2007 a he Daily Post reported that 

A LABOUR Party election candidate has sneered at the Welsh language as “brain dead” in a 600-word rant posted on an internet message board.
David Collins, 33, also a researcher for Vale of Clwyd Assembly Member Ann Jones, has since tried to claim it was a typing error and meant simply to say the language was “dead”.
The man with ambitions to become a local Labour Party councillor in Cardiff next May was last night dubbed a “bigot” by Welsh pressure group Cymuned.

Recently  the hostility  that remains with a minority of Labour members to Cymraeg surfaced in the row a row over the move to change a primary school to Welsh-medium education. in Llangenach with some Labour members there opposing it and allegedly linking with Ukup and even far right groups.

Unionist in Northern Ireland are aping those in Wales in their opposition to Irish language equality measures .

Here we have made progress and there are many in Party's other than Plaid Cymru who support  Welsh Language  equality, but we should be wary.

If Plaid start gaining support the Anti-Welsh rhetoric of Neil Kinnock and George Thomas will surely emerge once more.