Unionists call for halt to `Gaelic onslaught'.
DUP MP, the Rev William McCrea called on the British government in the Commons yesterday to counter a "constant bombardment" of "a foreign Irish Gaelic culture" and encourage "the majority Ulster-Scots culture" in the north.
The Mid-Ulster MP demanded: "What steps are you and the government going to take concerning the encouragement of the majority Ulster-Scots culture rather than the constant bombardment of the Ulster people and others with a foreign Irish Gaelic culture?"
"Can the government take the initiative, as it has rightly said it believes in the union?"
Mr Ancram replied: "As a Scottish borderer, I have great deal of respect for the Scots language, which is the parent language of Ulster Scots."
The Ulster -Scots linguistic tradition was "one important strand in Northern Ireland's complex cultural heritage", he acknowledged.
"I am taking steps to make sure it gets the same treatment as the Scots language does in Scotland."
Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor commented that that was an "excellent statement".
But he asked: "Aren't you surprised that the Central Community Relations Unit now gives 20 times more money to promotion of the Irish language than it does to the Ulster-Scots tradition, even though the latter is the main tradition in Northern Ireland?"
He asked if there would be a correction of this "imbalance" while promoting the north abroad.
Mr Ancram replied: "In terms of promoting Ulster abroad, and in particular
to those of Ulster ancestry, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board has a mechanism
for attracting these people back, particularly by introducing a guide entitled
Tracing your Ancestry, and I wish that guide well." |
