UK government 'must deliver on Irish language pledge'

Michelle O'Neill said the government must deliver on its pledges for cultural legislation

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said she expects the government to introduce legislation for Irish language commitments in Parliament next week.

She is due to meet NI Secretary Brandon Lewis on the issue later on Tuesday.

Ms O'Neill welcomed the government's move to pass legislation to prevent the collapse of power-sharing.

But she warned the government must also deliver on its pledges for cultural legislation.

"It must be delivered upon," she said, after attending the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' annual conference in Belfast alongside representatives from the five main parties.

In June, the government agreed to progress the legislation through Westminster if it had not made progress at Stormont by autumn.

Secretary of State Brandon Lewis said he believed there was still time for Stormont to pass a cultural bill, including legislation on Irish language and Ulster Scots before the end of the current mandate,

"It is still technically possible to allow this to be delivered in the mandate" he told MPs.

But he also warned that if it became clear the executive was unable to do this, then the government would bring forward the legislation.

In January 2020, the main political parties in Northern Ireland returned to power-sharing after three years of deadlock.

Stormont collapsed in January 2017 when the two biggest parties - the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin - split in a bitter row over the DUP's handling of a green energy scandal.

The parties clashed after Sinn Féin said it would not go back into an executive with the DUP, unless legislation for an Irish language act was implemented.