A former Sinn Fein minister didn’t want her own department to fund an Irish language scheme that her party is now accusing her DUP successor of cutting, documents obtained by the News Letter show.
Records released by Gordon Lyons’s communities department show Deirdre Hargey had also asked the finance department to pay for the Placenames Project – rather than fund it out of her own Department for Communities (DfC) budget, when it was transferred in 2022.
A row erupted this week over the DUPcommunities minister wanting additional funding for the scheme – with Sinn Fein accusing their government partners of a “disgraceful approach” to the issue.
It is the latest row over the Irish language between the Executive’s two main parties, with the focus on who is responsible for funding or cutting the project on the origins and meanings of local place names.
Current DfC minister Gordon Lyons said funding had been cut by the Sinn Fein-run finance department (DoF), after the party had accused the DUP of attempting to “attack and undermine Irish identity” by cutting the funding.
A minute of a meeting between two SF ministers on the issue in January 2022 records previous DfC Minister Hargey as having noted that “in order for her to consider supporting the project she would require the transfer of the resource required to operate it”.
Funding was then allocated by her SF colleague and then-finance minister Conor Murphy, which lasted until earlier this year. No mention of how the scheme would be funded post-2026 is recorded in the minutes.
Mr O’Dowd’s DoF has told the News Letter that “responsibility for” the scheme transferred to DfC on 2022 with funding in place until the 31 March 2026. A spokesperson said: “When the project transferred it did so on the understanding that the department it transferred to would have responsibility for longer term funding for the project”.
The minute of the meeting between the former DfC and DoF ministers, provided by Gordon Lyons’s department in response to a News Letter query, makes no mention of long term funding. However, DfC officials do acknowledge that an understanding was reached in 2022.
Emails released by DfC show that in February, minister Lyons’s officials warned DoF that “without additional support, the project will cease to operate, which would have several significant implications”. They requested £90k to keep the service going for another year.
Officials from John O’Dowd’s department rejected that – saying the “expectation was that DfC would factor future requirements” into its budget. DfC respond to say they “understand that was the agreement” and request a meeting.
DfC say there is a “need to identify potential funding sources to continue the work” as the Placenames Project “will be high on the political agenda” in light of the appointment of the Irish Language Commissioner.
In March, DoF officials say it is not within their vires to fund any further “as there is no business need”. Instead, they say it is a language project and the responsibility of DfC. Despite an appeal from Gordon Lyons’s department for the funding to be extended, John O’Dowd’s officials said it was limited to three years.
A DfC spokesperson said it “is actively considering options for the long‑term delivery of this function, alongside interim arrangements to maintain the service”
When asked why the scheme was funded by DoF and not DfC out of its own budget, the spokesperson said: “No baseline budget was transferred to DfC in 2022 to support the longer‑term delivery of this new area of work”.
They added: “During March 2026, the project sought agreement from DfC to carry over a small underspend, which continued activities until the end of April 2026. That brought an end to the DoF funding.
“In the absence of an agreed budget, and in common with other departmental programmes, it was the Department’s intention to allocate notional funding until June 2026. However, due to staffing issues within Queen’s University Belfast, it was not possible to utilise these funds.
“No policy decision has been taken to cease the funding. Funding was provided in 2025/26 under the terms of the original transfer, and a bid was submitted as part of the DfC’s 2026/27 budget process. Arrangements are in place to ensure that the Project’s database remains accessible to researchers. The Department is actively considering options for the long‑term delivery of this function, alongside interim arrangements to maintain the service”.
Sinn Fein MLA Colm Gildernew has said that Mr Lyons and the DUP had “shown only contempt” towards Irish – branding the funding cut a disgrace.
Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme, Gordon Lyons accused Sinn Fein of having made the cut – saying DoF was the only department that “has made a saving or is allocating that money elsewhere”.