A DUP minister gave his department no formal notice that he was reversing his decision to withdraw an Irish-language bursary scheme – with officials only finding out on Twitter.
Paul Givan made the U-turn in January amid anger from campaigners and the late Martin McGuinness citing the cut among his reasons for resigning as deputy first minister.
At the time he tweeted that cutting the £55,000 Líofa Gaeltacht Bursary Scheme was "not a political decision", adding: "I have now identified the necessary funding to advance this scheme."
The ex-communities minister later said that he did not want Sinn Féin to use it as a "political weapon" in the snap assembly election in March.
The Department for Communities (DfC), which normally issues statements and decisions on behalf of the minister to the media, did not follow Mr Givan's tweet with an official announcement that funding was restored.
It has now emerged that the department received "no formal written communication" from the minister about reversing the cut.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from The Irish News, it said work only began on reinstating the scheme following Mr Givan's tweet.
"The department does not hold correspondence relating to reversing the cut to the bursary scheme," it said.
"This was a public announcement by the minister on his party Twitter account. There was no formal written communication from or to the minister on this issue.
"Following minister's announcement, officials commenced work immediately to launch the scheme."
The Irish language has become a key political issue in recent months amid growing calls for the introduction of an Irish language act.
The proposal gathered pace amid anger over Mr Givan scrapping the Líofa bursary just before Christmas and controversial comments by DUP leader Arlene Foster.
In February she said her party would never agree to an Irish language act, adding in reference to Sinn Féin demands: "If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more."
In April it emerged that Stormont officials warned Mr Givan of the impact of shutting down the Líofa bursary scheme ahead of his decision to close it.
A ministerial briefing paper advised "the advantages of running the Gaeltacht bursary scheme are many" and that it met several Programme for Government commitments.
It said the disadvantages of cutting the scheme were "the potential for negative media attention, and less young people and adults able to afford to attend the Gaeltacht to improve their Irish".
Sinn Féin West Tyrone MLA Barry McElduff yesterday described the funding cut as "disgraceful" and "taken for petty electoral reasons".
"It was a decision that should never have been taken and demonstrated the DUP's contempt for the Irish language and the Irish-speaking community. That arrogance is unacceptable," he said.
The DUP did not respond to requests for a comment.
