Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 June 2004
60 Ms Burton asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his views on the recent resignation of the chairman of the Ulster-Scots Agency; if he has addressed the former chairman’s claims that the British and Irish Governments were discriminating against the body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16785/04]
View answerIn a joint statement issued on the resignation of the chairman of the Ulster-Scots Agency on 23 April 2004, both Minister Angela Smith MP, and I, as Ministers with co-responsibility for the North-South Language Body, expressed our regret at his resignation. We acknowledged that as chairman of the Ulster-Scots Agency he had provided leadership and encouraged interest in the language. We assured the Ulster-Scots Agency and the wider Ulster Scots community that we would continue to play a full role in helping to promote the Ulster Scots culture and language, in line with the commitment given in the Good Friday Agreement.
I do not accept that there was discrimination against the agency. Decisions relating to the agency are agreed jointly between the two sponsor Departments — the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the North and my Department in the South — following appropriate consultation with the agency and North-South ministerial review. Decisions on funding issues also involve the Department of Finance and Personnel in the North and the Department of Finance in the South. Recent funding decisions have been made against the background of the North-South bodies being in care-and-maintenance mode since the suspension of the Assembly.
