Back in 1982, in the wake of the republican hunger strikes, Sinn Fein formed a cultural department to promote the use of the Irish language. This was part of the Sinn Fein strategy of 'broadening the battlefield', a strategy which regarded republican activity in the political, cultural and social fields as complementing their terrorist campaign.

When it started the cultural war in 1982, Sinn Fein organised a seminar on the Irish language and it was held in Conway Mill, Belfast, on Saturday, May 26, 1982. From that seminar Sinn Fein published a booklet entitled Learning Irish, which had an introduction by Sinn Fein cultural officer Mairtin O'Muilleoir, of the Andersonstown News.

The booklet also included a speech by Padraig O'Maoicraoibhe, another Sinn Fein cultural officer, who said that " every phrase you learn (in Irish) is a bullet in the freedom struggle".

Lest anyone think that this was just the view of an individual, the booklet noted that at the workshop on Irish and the National Struggle "everyone was agreed that there was a definite link between the national struggle and the cultural revival".

Indeed, the chairperson of that workshop, Sinn Fein activist Tarlach MacIonractaigh, linked Irish culture and IRA terrorism and said that: "The armed struggle is the highest point of the cultural revival".

However appalling the views expressed by Sinn Fein about the Irish language in 1982, they at least had the merit of honesty and they provide us all with a clear insight into what Sinn Fein really believes.

Twenty-five years later the IRA has ended its military 'war' but the war is not over and Sinn Fein is now turning more and more to a cultural war, in which it intends to use the Irish language as one of its principal weapons.

The IRA may have decommissioned its guns, but Sinn Fein is now engaged in a process of cultural rearmament and their demand for an Irish language act is part of that process.

Nelson McCausland MLA, Belfast