Loyalist culture wars in East Belfast

As continuing hoax bomb attacks on a Gaelic sports club in the area prove, Irish culture is under constant attack in east Belfast. Now tensions are rising ahead of the arrivals of pupils to an Irish language school in the area, writes Suzanne Breen (for the Belfast Telegraph).

Three dozen children starting school in a building which has been lying vacant represents a threat to nobody.

The pupils who are due to begin in Scoil na Seolta in east Belfast should not be at the centre of a controversy.

Their parents should be able to enjoy the summer months with their sons and daughters without worrying about what could lie ahead in September.

Nobody in the Clonduff Estate is losing out by the integrated Irish language school which is set to open on nearby Montgomery Road.

There is nothing sectarian, offensive or provocative about what is being planned.

The school will welcome children from all religions and none. Its co-founder is East Belfast born and bred. Linda Ervine comes from a Protestant background.

Her brother-in-law David was a former UVF man who went on to be leader of the PUP. Her husband Brian also led that party.

Ervine is living, breathing proof that Irish belongs to everyone. It is not the language of ‘themuns’. Rather, it is an undeniable part of the place we call home.

The supreme irony is that Clonduff literally is Cluain Daimh — Meadow of the Ox. It’s in Castlereagh, An Caisleán Riabhach — the Grey Castle. And that is right beside Lisnasharragh, Lios na Searrach — Fort of the Foals.

Irish is not a foreign language. It surrounds us in our everyday lives whether we want to acknowledge that or not.

Nobody in Clonduff will be in the slightest disadvantaged or inconvenienced by Scoil na Seolta.

It is not being forced on anybody. There are schools on my doorstep which don’t impress me so my kids don’t go to them.

The situation is equally simple and straightforward in east Belfast: if you don’t want your children to learn Irish, you don’t send them to Scoil na Seolta.

There’s no doubt that local working-class communities have been left behind. An estimated 40% of people in Clonduff are economically inactive, with child poverty at 20%.

“That’s a failure of politics, and in particular of political unionism,” says Green councillor Brian Smyth. “In working-class areas of east Belfast, people have just been used as a vote for decades.

“The Irish language isn’t the enemy. You know what the enemy is? It’s poverty, educational underachievement and paramilitarism.”

The opening of Scoil na Seolta should never have become a political issue.

At Thursday night’s meeting in the Clonduff Community Centre, Jamie Bryson wasn’t shy about raising the temperature.

“How long before little children in a unionist area like east Belfast are being indoctrinated into playing GAA for PE, and are competing in the Bobby Sands Cup?” he said.

“The Clonduff project is the thin end of the wedge because that is where this is going if you don’t stand against it.

“There is an Irish nationalist resurgence trying to take over every aspect of our lives, every aspect of our community. Ladies and gentlemen, this must be stopped.”

Bryson is deliberately whipping up tensions. The protocol alone is no longer enough. The DUP is back in Stormont and loving it. The party isn’t about to leave government again.

With that leverage gone, the loyalist is trying to start culture wars to create political instability.

That’s why he’s launching a legal challenge over a block on Ards and North Down council’s proposals to fly the Union flag at war memorials 365 days a year. That’s why he’s in Clonduff.

He knows that these are emotive issues which can cause bubbling anger in the loyalist community. He hopes that coupling such rage with lingering resentment over the Irish Sea border will prove to be a potent mix.

If he can prod the DUP into hardline territory on cultural issues, and force an end to its camogie playing and ceili dancing gestures, then Executive relationships could become strained.

Bryson may interpret the party’s decision not to send anyone to today’s All-Ireland football final in Croke Park as the start of a gradual retreat.

Ultimately, unionism will pay a price if the DUP chooses that path. Changing demographics means outreach is needed now more than ever.

And even Jamie Bryson can’t escape the Irish language. He lives in Bangor which comes from the Irish Beannchar — Place of Points or Horned Curve, reflecting the local shoreline.

Maybe some day we can live in a society where we unite in celebrating our wonderful shared cultural heritage.

Urgent Appeal