To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on the work programme of the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression, including any initiatives planned to promote cultural understanding and inclusion over the next 12 months.

Mrs O'Neill (The First Minister)

We are delighted that Dr Katy Radford formally started in her role as director of the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression on 13 November. Other members of the board are due to take up post on 3 December. Over the coming months, the office will seek to develop a work programme in line with the aims and functions set out in the Identity and Language Act 2022. The aim will be the promotion of cultural pluralism, respect for diversity, social cohesion and reconciliation and to support and promote the celebration of our cultural and linguistic heritage. We are confident that we have the right people in place to deliver those objectives and are committed to supporting the office in its efforts. We will be able to provide further details to Members on the work of the office as it progresses.

Mrs O'Neill

I agree with the Member: it has to be much more than symbolism. This is a crucial juncture at which we can have a new departure, particularly in relation to social cohesion and the problems that we have witnessed across society, especially in the past year. It is an opportunity not to be missed, and we need to measure progress as we go. We are committed to working with Katy and the board team on that. The clear aims of the office are set out in the legislation, but, for me, it is about how the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression and the other two offices can work in a complementary fashion but also distinctly. There is a real opportunity for the office to be shaped to promote respect, inclusion, social cohesion and reconciliation among all our national and cultural identities.

Mr Brett

First Minister, one of the greatest examples of initiatives to promote cultural understanding is the wide range of portraits of Lord Mayors in Belfast City Hall. A member and employee of your party was forced to resign after attacking one of those portraits. Given that you are required to uphold the rule of law under the ministerial code, will you take the opportunity to name that former employee and state to which member of your party and Member of the House that individual is related?

Mrs O'Neill

If only your question was genuinely about respect, but, of course, it is not. The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has made its views known, and I respect its position.

Ms Ennis

As the First Minister outlined, there is amazing work going on in our communities to promote inclusion and cultural understanding. Does she agree that there is now an opportunity for the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression, as well as the offices of the Irish Language Commissioner and the Ulster-Scots Commissioner, to build on that work and help further promote a society that is built on respect and mutual understanding of identity and culture?

Mrs O'Neill

Yes. As I referenced in my answer to the original question, so much incredible work happens out there. We all see it in our backyards and in our constituencies. Such a huge amount of work is being done to promote inclusion and social cohesion at grassroots level. We need to draw all of that out. We need to focus on the positivity and build on it, be that in community centres, sports clubs, sports spaces or other places where people come together to share experiences. We have a richness of diversity, and we need to get to a position in which we talk about how we celebrate our diversity and respect our differences. The Office of Identity and Cultural Expression will create the opportunity to build on what is there through focusing on new work programmes, but it will also genuinely help build the new society that we all desperately want to achieve together. With the director and the two commissioners now in place, the work that they can do together will bear fruit in the years to come.

Mr McGlone

A Chéad-Aire, an dtig leat insint dúinn cad chuige nach raibh cumas sa teanga Ghaeilge ar na critéir do na ceapacháin don bhord?

Mrs O'Neill

Sorry, my translation thing was not working. We wanted to give Katy a chance to bed in before putting in place the other board members. They will take up their roles in the next number of weeks. I am looking for their names. Brian Dougherty, Ellen Finlay, Stephen Moore, Dr Callie Persic and Dr Jacqueline Witherow have all been appointed and will assume their roles on 3 December, which is just around the corner. They will very much add to the director, who is now in post. It is important that she gets a chance to put her feet under the table and then welcome the new board members. Together they will design the programme of work.

Mr Gaston

Does the First Minister think that a fanatic who believes that the Irish language legislation does not go far enough and is or, at least, was a card-carrying member of Sinn Féin is the right person to hold the post of Irish Language Commissioner? How can someone with that record enjoy unionist support?

Mrs O'Neill

I am sure that the commissioner will have something to say about your commentary. I very much welcome the commissioner to his post and wish him well in it. Ádh mór

to Pól Deeds as he takes up his role. We should all get behind him and stop skirting around the issues and being so divisive. Try to think about it from an inclusive point of view. This is a promotion of the Irish language, and it is a positive thing. You should not be frightened.