Litigating Irish language rights in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper explores the scope for domestic language rights litigation in the United Kingdom (UK), focusing on recent Irish language rights disputes in Northern Ireland/the north of Ireland (NI). Drawing on a survey of cases heard between 2009 and 2019, the paper presents a doctrinal exposition of the legal avenues, successful and unsuccessful, by which members of the Irish-speaking community have sought to assert their language rights before the courts in NI. More precisely, the paper examines claims made under (1) the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, (2) the European Convention on Human Rights, and (3) domestic statutory duties, powers, and the common law. The analysis demonstrates that while the first two strategies have been unsuccessful, the latter render language rights justiciable and enforceable in UK/NI law.