evidence: Brian Ó Conchubhair, associate professor of Irish language and literature at the University of Notre Dame, described the Irish language’s difficult position in Northern Ireland in a recent essay – Politics of Language in a (Dis)United Ireland – in the journal Irish Studies in International Affairs. "After partition, reciprocal animosity grew. The Free State stressed Irish at every opportunity. In Northern Ireland, those in power viewed and used English as a ‘tool of cultural triumphalism’. As the Free State promoted and privileged Irish, Stormont penalised and punished it. Northern Ireland’s first education minister removed Irish from the curriculum, while unionist MP William Grant allegedly stated that the ‘only people interested in this language are the avowed enemies of Northern Ireland’," he wrote. [...] Conradh na Gaeilge sees the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act as a critical part of their battle to combat hostile tendencies because it would introduce measures that would allow the use of Irish in the courts and ensure people could access public services through Irish.