United Nations: Forum on Minority Issues 10:50-12:00 (local time in Geneva) Item 2: Root causes of contemporary conflicts involving minorities. Ar dtús, is mian liom, mar ionadaí ar Chonradh na Gaeilge agus ar phobal na Gaeilge, mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl as ucht an chuireadh bheith ag caint libh inniu agus as an deis scéal na Gaeilge ó thuaidh a roinnt libh ag an am tábhachtach seo On behalf of Conradh na Gaeilge I would like to thank you for the welcome and for the opportunity to be with you today to speak to you about the Irish language as a minoritised language in the north of Ireland, in the context of a post-conflict society and the role of the Irish language in all of Ireland’s major peace agreements. It is my honour to be here on behalf of Conradh na Gaeilge, but my expertise comes from being an Irish speaker in a state which has, since its formation in 1921, outlawed, repressed and denigrated our language and frustrated the rights of our community. It is for that reason that I have deliberately described Irish as a minortised language - a deliberate act of attempted linguicide and not a manifestation of linguistic preference. In spite of that, I was educated through the medium of Irish in a community-run school set up by activists and parents. I’m now a father raising my own child through Irish. His first language will be Irish and this will be the first time for this to happen in our family since the 19th century. I speak to you with the experience of living a life through Irish in a hostile political environment. That the Irish language community in Ireland is represented here today, at a 'Forum on Minority Issues', is an indication of how successful the colonial policy of repressing Irish identity and culture has been over the centuries. The 14th century Statutes of Kilkenny and the 17th and 18th Century Penal Laws were key moments in the cultural colonisation of Ireland. Such laws were a calculated attempt of cultural colonisation and were to a large extent, successful. Irish speakers were marginalised and excluded from public life; they were banned and prosecuted for using, educating and living through their native tongue. Despite these repressive measures, more than half the population remained Irish speaking according to the census of 1841. However, the Great Hunger 1845-51 effectively decimated Irish-speaking Ireland through death and emigration. The formation of the National Schools by the British Government, which forbade the teaching of Irish, were a further blow to the Irish speaking population. The formation of Conradh na Gaeilge in 1893 and the cultural revival of the late 19th Century which it inspired, as well as the establishment of the Irish State in 1921 managed to reverse some of the legislative and practical barriers facing the development of the language - and provide it with official status in the southern part of Ireland. However, the remaining six north-eastern counties formed part of the newly established ‘Northern Ireland’ - part of the British state, and under the control of a 'unionist' regime that considered the Irish language an existential threat that promoted disloyalty and an ‘anti-British counter culture’. This state