Northern Ireland

'People know Irish is not a threat to them' - Linda Ervine puts focus on east Belfast's hidden gaelic history after clash with TUV candidate

Linda Ervine, picture by Hugh Russell.
Linda Ervine, picture by Hugh Russell.

Days before last week's council elections, the Irish language activist Linda Ervine unexpectedly found herself on the receiving end of an online berating from the east Belfast TUV candidate Anne Smyth.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Ms Smyth questioned National Lottery funding for a First World War history project about Irish speaking soldiers from east Belfast.

She also said a decision by a primary school to cancel a taster session from East Belfast GAA following social media threats was "justifiable in view of the sectarian nature of the supposed 'sporting' organisation that is the GAA".

TUV candidate Anne Smyth had recently criticised Ms Ervine's work with Turas.
TUV candidate Anne Smyth had recently criticised Ms Ervine's work with Turas.

Ms Ervine manages the Turas Irish language project from the Skainos Centre in east Belfast and criticised the "inflammatory" statements which she called a bid to "raise tensions and win votes".

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Speaking to The Irish News, Ms Ervine has now said the TUV candidate has yet to take up an offer to meet and discuss her concerns.

Ms Ervine said she is more interested in telling people about regular bus tours operated by Turas that share the hidden gaelic history of east Belfast.

Turas offer bus tours sharing the hidden gaelic history of east Belfast.
Turas offer bus tours sharing the hidden gaelic history of east Belfast.

Having been disrupted by the pandemic, the tourist offering includes stories of the ill-fated Irish lord Conn O'Neill as well as a family raised entirely in Irish on the Castlereagh Road in the 1950s.


Read more: Murals in Belfast and Northern Ireland: An explainer

A new mural tour also looks beyond the familiar paramilitary trappings to celebrated connections like George Best, CS Lewis and Samuel Beckett. 

"We are more interested in the positive stories rather than the Troubles and negativity," Ms Ervine said.

"There's so many quirky and hopeful stories of things that happened in east Belfast, of sporting and literary heroes."

A new mural tour of east Belfast run by Turas aims to avoid paramilitary trappings.
A new mural tour of east Belfast run by Turas aims to avoid paramilitary trappings.

On the recent clash with Ms Smyth, she said negative reaction towards her work in east Belfast is not a regular issue.

"We get a lot of positivity, we're one of the biggest Irish language centres in Belfast. This year we signed up 500 people for Irish language classes with the majority of them being learners from the local community," she said.

"We have a lot of friends in the community and thankfully negative attitudes are very much in the minority."

She added: "Most people are starting to recognise that even though they may not be interested in learning Irish, they have no issue with other people doing so.

"They know it's not a threat to them. We've shown that with much of the work that we do, for example showing that there's Irish in the British passport and there was obviously Irish featured in the coronation recently."

A coronation party was also held recently at an integrated Irish medium nursery school run by Turas.

One of the selling points for Turas for many new students has been the gaelic origin of many placenames in east Belfast, including Ballyrushboy 'the yellow townland of the wood,' Knocknagoney 'the hill of the rabbits,' and Lisnasharragh 'fort of the foals'.

Ms Ervine said she understood there were actually more gaelic placenames in east Belfast than in the west of the city.

"They're beautiful and two of our local primary schools - Knocknagoney and Lisnasharragh - even use imagery from the descriptions of the placenames.

"Learning Irish doesn't signify what a person's political outlook is or what their religion or tradition is.

"Irish is a shared language, that's what we promote here. And we see Irish as being a proven medium for reconciliation."

The bus tours operated by Turas share the gaelic connections of east Belfast.
The bus tours operated by Turas share the gaelic connections of east Belfast.