Gregory Campbell, a Democratic Unionist party MP in Northern Ireland, once expressed his scorn for the Irish language with six words that became infamous: “Curry my yoghurt, can coca coalyer.”
He coined the gibberish phrase in 2014 during an address to the Stormont assembly to mimic and deride nationalist colleagues who began speeches with “go raibh maith agat, ceann comhairle”, which means “thank you, chairman”.
It caused uproar but Campbell was unrepentant. A DUP conference later cheered him when he brought a pot of yoghurt to the lectern and said curry was for lunch. The message was clear: Irish was for republicans, not unionists.
But eight years later the UK government is to table long-delayed legislation to promote and safeguard Irish – and a small, growing number of people from Protestant and unionist backgrounds in Northern Ireland are already learning it.
