Police Investigate Distribution of Anti-Irish Language Leaflets

Law enforcement authorities are conducting an inquiry following the discovery of flyers, critical of the Irish language, left on vehicles belonging to students participating in a lesson in Belfast. The incident occurred on Monday evening, specifically outside The Points bar located on the Dublin Road, the venue for a regular Irish language instruction session. The distributed flyers contained the statements: “English is our mother tongue” and asserted that the majority of Irish individuals “should hate the Irish language”. According to police, the event is being classified as a “hate incident”. A female participant in the class expressed that, despite her support for free speech, the act constituted “clearly low-level intimidation”. She informed BBC News NI, stating: “It was very targeted. They obviously knew there’s an Irish-language class there.” The 34-year-old Belfast resident, who chose to remain anonymous, further commented: “I think a couple of the students were kind of: ‘Is this safe?'” She continued: “It was a wee bit scary to be fair. You just didn’t know if people were still watching you.” She indicated that the flyers had been positioned on approximately 10 to 15 vehicles situated close to the establishment. The flyers contained an extensive message, which stated: “English is our mother tongue.”English is the ancestral language of most Irish people. English is the language of the Irish people.” The communication asserted that the government “should respect the will of the Irish people not to speak Irish”. It further claimed that “Ireland’s Christianity is a much more important part of Ireland’s heritage than the language ever was” and that the government “would do much more for the Irish people if they taught Latin in our schools instead of Irish”. Emmet McDonough-Brown, an Alliance Party councillor, expressed disapproval of the distributed flyers. He commented: “It is deeply disappointing that somebody would seek to intimidate language students who are expanding their horizons.” He added: “Irish belongs to our community who use and cherish it and people should be free to learn without this florid stupidity.” The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) issued a call for individuals possessing any relevant information to come forward. A spokesperson confirmed: “Police received a report of leaflets being placed on a number of vehicles parked in the Dublin Road area on Monday evening, 9 December.” He further stated that “inquiries are ongoing into this report, which is being treated as a hate incident”. The establishment known as The Points was also contacted for a statement. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the material found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.