Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Finance, pursuant to AQW 12520/22-27, to detail the progress her Department has made in bringing forward the necessary statutory provision for wills to be validly made in Irish, as committed under New Decade, New Approach.
Minister of Finance: Meeting the New Decade New Approach commitment to ensure that wills can be validly made in Irish will require cross-government work between my department, the Department of Justice and the NIO.
The necessary statutory provision for wills to be validly made in Irish is already in place. Section 4 of the Identity and Language (NI) Act 2022 removes the only current bar on a will being validly made in any language. That provision has yet to be commenced by the British Government, and will require work to ensure that the court system is adequately prepared should a will in Irish be contested in the courts.
The Justice Minister and I have corresponded on this matter and we are committed to engaging our Ministerial colleagues to ensure that this important NDNA commitment is progressed.
ENDS
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