Sinn Féin and the DUP have been arguing since last year over bilingual signs at Belfast’s new Grand Central Station. But the Irish language commissioner could not impose a resolution to this row. Photograph: David Young/PA Wire
Stormont has spent two decades arguing over Irish language legislation. A language and identity Act was eventually passed in 2022 and the final milestone in its implementation was reached last week, when the Sinn Féin and DUP first ministers appointed the commissioners and other office-holders the Act requires. Appointees will take up their posts from next week and the complicated system everyone has been inching towards for years should crank into operation. Only then will it become apparent if it causes more problems than it solves.
The system is a classic Northern Ireland compromise – a three-
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