The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL; Irish: An Roinn Cultúir, Ealaíon agus Fóillíochta; Ulster Scots: Männystrie o Fowkgates, Airts an Aisedom[3]) was a devolvedgovernment department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department was the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
After the election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016, the DCAL was closed and its roles and functions were amalgamated with other departments in order to reduce the size of the Northern Ireland Executive.
DCAL's overall vision was a "confident, creative, informed and healthy society". It described its mission as delivering economic growth and enhancing the quality of life in Northern Ireland by "unlocking the full potential of the culture, arts and leisure sectors."[4]
The last Minister was Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin).[5] The Minister was, by virtue of office, the Keeper of the Records for Northern Ireland.[6]
A devolved minister first took office on 2 December 1999. Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of direct rule ministers from the Northern Ireland Office:
Under the St Andrews Agreement (signed 13 October 2006), the Executive is obliged to adopt strategies on enhancing and protecting the development of the Irish language and enhancing and developing Ulster Scots language, heritage and culture.[23][24] The agreement also committed the United Kingdom Government to introducing "an Irish Language Act reflecting on the experience of Wales and Ireland".[25]Welsh and Irish are official languages in those respective countries.
Language policy was devolved, alongside the department's other responsibilities, on 8 May 2007. As of March 2012, neither an Irish language strategy or act, nor an Ulster Scots strategy, had been adopted. The department stated that a Strategy for Indigenous or Regional Minority Languages would "be presented to the Executive in due course".[26]
^"Budget 2011–15"(PDF). Department of Finance and Personnel. Archived from the original(PDF) on 13 December 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
^Männystrie o Fowkgates, Airts an Aisedom is the name used by the Department itself, although other variants, like the Depairtment o Cultur, Airts an Leisur, are also in use.
^"Human Rights, Equality, Victims and Other Issues". St Andrews Agreement(PDF). 2006. p. 11. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 November 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
