Woman Arrested In Belfast For Speaking Irish

[PRC-UTE]

Published: 18 July, 2006

Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún has described the arrest of an Irish language school teacher in Belfast for speaking Irish as ‘treatment which brings us back to the days of the penal laws’.

Ms de Brún made her comments before she was due to attend a protest tomorrow along with Irish language activists at the Belfast court where the woman’s case will be heard.

Ms de Brún said:

“I want to express my anger at the arrest of an Irish language schoolteacher after she spoke in Irish on a Belfast street. The woman continued to speak in Irish, as is her right, and I am told that the PSNI member became abusive and pushed the woman before arresting her. She was held in a Belfast PSNI barracks before being charged with disorderly behaviour.

“Tomorrow her case comes before the courts in Belfast and I will join a picket organised by Irish language activists and speakers. This sort of behaviour by the PSNI is a throwback to the penal days. Irish language speakers will not be denied our basic right to speak our own language on our own streets by the PSNI or anyone else. That is the clear message coming from this case.” ENDS

Editors Note: The protest will take place tomorrow (Wednesday 19th July) at 10am outside the Laganside Court complex.
http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/15122

[Global_Justice]

why aren't you allowed to speak irish :unsure:

[RedAnarchist]

She is Irish and was in Ireland. Therefore she should be able to speak Irish, no matter what the agents of the occupation may think.

[Si Pinto]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19 2006, 12:45 PM
She is Irish and was in Ireland. Therefore she should be able to speak Irish, no matter what the agents of the occupation may think.
You need to tell that to the NI police obviously.

It's not the first time something like this has happened and I'd be surprised if it was the last.

If this happened in Scotland or Wales I think the media attention would be pretty big, but the authorities always try to keep this kind of thing quiet in NI.

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

so aren't you allowed to speak any language which isn't english in NI?

so a french tourist couldn't say speak french to their companion walking down the street? :unsure:

[Jazzratt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19 2006, 01:39 PM
so aren't you allowed to speak any language which isn't english in NI?

so a french tourist couldn't say speak french to their companion walking down the street? :unsure:
Nah. Most other langauges are fine. Irish Gaelic on the other hand... Although no one in charge has adequetly explained why.

[Si Pinto]

It's cultural sterilisation, the NI authorities are trying to destroy resistance by destroying the culture that produces those who resist.

[Jazzratt]

Really? They don't even bother with a pretext?

[Samuel]

northern ireland is the biggest joke in the worls

[loveme4whoiam]

What a load of shite! Like Si Pinto said, if this happened in Wales or Scotland there would be a bloody outrage, but I haven't heard a word about this on the mainstream news channels. People should be free to speak whichever language they wish - cultural sterilisation be damned.

[RedAnarchist]

I hope that if anyone is arrested in the Occupied Six for speaking Irish then they should refuse to speak English to anyone in authority, be it a police officer or a judge.

[Conghaileach]

BBC News
Wednesday, 19 July 2006

Court protest at teacher hearing

Irish language activists have held a protest outside a Belfast court in support of an Irish language teacher.

Maire Nic An Bhaird, 24, from Woodside Walk, Dunmurry, is denying disorderly behaviour.

Her defence team have applied to have all court proceedings in Irish. The case was adjourned at Belfast Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Sinn Fein MEP Bairbre de Brun, who taught the defendant Irish, was among the protesters.

Defence solicitor Michael Crawford told the court his client was a native Irish speaker and her whole environment was Irish.

He said that as all legal consultations had been conducted in Irish he had written to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) asking that all the papers in the case should be in Irish.

Resident Magistrate Fiona Bagnall gave the defence three weeks to make written submissions in support of the application to have the papers translated into Irish and the Crown a further three weeks to respond.

Ms Nic An Bhaird was remanded on continuing bail.

Speaking outside the court Ms de Brun said that her former pupil should be able to use the Irish language in the court proceedings.

"Considering the European Charter, considering the Good Friday Agreement and considering the Criminal Justice Review she should now be able to get her papers from the prosecution service in the Irish language," she said.

"She should be able to use Irish in the proceedings and that is what we want."

Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5194744.stm)

[Conghaileach]

RTÉ News
19 July 2006 12:53

Woman claims she was held for speaking Irish

A Belfast teacher has contested a charge of disorderly behaviour at Belfast Magistrates Court and claimed she was arrested by the PSNI because she was speaking Irish.

Máire Nic An Bhaird, 24, from Woodside Walk in Dunmurry was detained by the PSNI after an incident on Belfast's Malone Road in May.

This morning's hearing was adjourned after Defence Solicitor Michael Crawford requested that all the papers in the case should be in Irish.

Mr Crawford argued that his client was a native Irish speaker and her whole environment was Irish.

The Resident Magistrate, Fiona Bagnall, adjourned the case until 6 September, giving the defence three weeks to make written submissions in support of the application to have the papers translated into Irish and giving the prosecution a further three weeks to respond.

A large group of Irish language activists, including Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún, staged a protest outside the court.

Source (http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0719/north.html)

[Conghaileach]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19 2006, 03:55 PM
This morning's hearing was adjourned after Defence Solicitor Michael Crawford requested that all the papers in the case should be in Irish.
The funny thing about it is that, while Irish has recognition under both the Good Friday Agreement and the European Charter on Minority and Regional Languages, there was no problem a few weeks ago when a man wanted papers translated into Russian, and Russia isn't even an EU country!

[Janus]

So the authorities arrested her on the pretext of disorderly behavior?

This is messed up, I had no idea that things like this were happening still in Northern Ireland.

[Phalanx]

Like Janus, I too had no idea things were still this bad in the Six Counties.

I think there's a word for repressing one's culture...

[Free Left]

That's a fucking joke cos Irish is being taught in schools!!! And they arrest someone from practising it? That's just a shambollocks of a nation....
I'd go to my local police station and start speaking as Gaeigle to him to see if they'd lock me up...

[PRC-UTE]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19 2006, 12:33 PM
why aren't you allowed to speak irish :unsure:
It used to be openly illegal to ever speak Irish. What would happen is that a cop would stop a person, question them, and if they replied in Irish, throw them in gaol. Sometimes they'd be imprisoned indefinitely. I read a story from AP/RN (this was years ago) where a young lad was questioned by the cops and taken into custody. :o

I was honestly surprised by this story, too. I thought the gfa had done away with this sort of thing.