Irish language activists were left bemused and disappointed this week when it came to light that a submission by the BBC to the British government, currently reviewing the broadcaster's charter, omitted any specific reference to Gaeilge.
And the corporation's failure to mention the dreaded 'G' word has brought back not-too-distant memories of when activists picketed the Ormeau Avenue headquarters with placards bearing the slogan 'Auntie Beeb is Anti-Irish'.
The specific provision contained in a submission in the appendix of the document which was drafted by the Broadcasting Council of BBC NI reads as follows...
'The Charter should provide a clearly defined and enabling context for the development of indigenous language programming by BBCNI, consistent with the BBC's existing and planned commitments to Welsh and Scots Gaelic output, and to include fully additional funding to facilitate the enhancement of programmes and services in this area.'
Irish language organisations led by Pobal are campaigning for a specific commitment to Irish language programming in the new version of the BBC governing charter after its review next year.
Such a commitment would entitle BBCNI to draw down extra funds from the licence fund in order to produce and broadcast Irish language programmes.
Previously BBCNI bosses have argued that they have insufficient resources to meet the costs of Irish language programming on the station and that the most recent Irish language programmes, the magazine show SRL for instance, have been produced by allocating funds from the budgets of other programme areas.
In Scotland and Wales, because Scots Gaelic and Welsh are mentioned specifically in the current BBC Charter, substantial resources are devoted by the corporation to production and broadcast in these two languages.
There has been no significant Irish language output on any of the main BBC channels so far this year and the magazine show SRL, originally scheduled to be screened in early summer, has been put back to the autumn because there wasn't a space available for it at a prime time in the schedule.
"While we welcome the broad thrust of the commitment to indigenous language in this BBC submission, it's clear that it's no accident that a specific mention of the Irish language has been omitted," said Janet Muller, chief executive of the Irish language rights advocacy organisation Pobal.
"This leaves the Irish language facing a darker future as far as the BBC is concerned," she added.
Ultach Trust director and himself a member of the BBC NI Broadcasting Council which drafted the document, Aodán Mac Poilín was supportive of the BBC submission.
Speaking in a purely personal capacity he said, "The mention in the submission is as good as can be hoped for at this point in time.
"The words were chosen carefully but it's clear that the Irish language can benefit from it."
Irish language TV producer Gearóid Ó Cairealláin said the omission is a sign BBCNI is failing to face the reality that there is a growing Irish language community in the North.
"According to the last census 161,000, or approximately 10% of the population of the six counties, said they spoke Irish," he said.
"It's quite simple to do the maths on this – there's nowhere near 10% of the programming on BBCNI in Irish, we're actually talking about less than 10 hours of Irish language TV PER YEAR.
"If the BBC hopes this type of statement will convince potential licence-payers of their good intentions towards the Irish language, they're sadly mistaken yet again."
According to a source, the omission of any specific mention of the Irish language in the BBC document was down to fears within BBCNI of the possible reaction this would prompt from the Ulster Scots lobby.
