Ministers reject claims Irish language protections are 'kowtowing' to Sinn Fein

Ministers rejected claims the Government is acting like "a wing of Sinn Fein" as MPs debated plans to bolster the official status of the Irish language in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker rejected the suggestion from the DUP as the Commons debated the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill.

The draft law aims to create new legislative protections for the Irish language, and also proposes two commissioner roles - one for the Irish language and another for the Ulster Scots/Ulster British tradition.

As MPs continued scrutiny of the Bill in its committee stage, DUP MP Jim Shannon (Strangford) described it as "nothing more than a sop to Sinn Fein".

DUP MP Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) added: "It's unfortunate that when ministers are appointed to Northern Ireland, they seem to accept the default position of the Northern Ireland Office, which seems to be an extension of the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Republic of Ireland and the default voice for Sinn Fein."

Mr Baker replied: "I just want to reassure them on a slightly lighter note that while they're accusing us of being a wing of Sinn Fein, I can absolutely assure them that Sinn Fein are perfectly content to tell me that we pander too much to the DUP."

He added: "So I suspect that what this Government is actually doing, (what) it does at the moment, is a job that's about right, doing as we are something which seems to offend all quarters."

Mr Shannon later urged the Government to think again on the Bill, and called on ministers to back its amendment aimed at giving more powers to the proposed Ulster Scots commissioner, as under the current plan it would "be of far less value for its community" than the Irish language commissioner.

He added: "What has Northern Ireland's unionism done to so upset this Government that it sees fit to treat us this way?

"First, we have a prime minister - well, the prime minister has changed - who comes to Northern Ireland and promises there will be no border down the Irish Sea and then goes home and imposes a border down the Irish Sea.

"Then the way they have treated us through the Ulster Scots commissioner. I conclude with this, it is very hard not to draw very painful conclusions here today. I say that with great sadness in my heart... but the legislation today is here to punish us."

Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, said suggestions that ministers are "kowtowing to a Sinn Fein agenda" were wrong.

He appealed to the DUP to stop making the claims, adding: "I have suffered those sorts of brickbats from some of the opposite benches over the time I have chaired the committee: unfair and untrue.

"I just say very politely to (Mr Shannon) it has got to stop. This is the New Decade, New Approach. We are trying to move things forward. The Government is trying to move things forward with fairness and equity, respect and support."