Northern Ireland Culture Minister Edwin Poots of the DUP has ruled out introducing an Irish Language Act that would enshrine the rights of Irish speakers in the North.
Despite conceding that most respondents to a public consultation on the issue were in favour of such an act, Mr Poots said legislation would prove too costly. He told Assembly members there also was not sufficient political consensus to bring an Irish Language Bill forward.
"Based on a high level cost estimate, the introduction of even a modest language-scheme legislative model would have very significant resource implications," the minister said.
Since assuming office in May, Mr Poots has stressed the need for cross-community consensus, and he has queried the fluency of people who claimed to be Irish language speakers in the 2001 census.
The chairman of Mr Poots' Stormont scrutiny committee, Sinn Féin's Barry McElduff ,accused the minister of treating the committee with contempt by failing to accede to requests for a briefing ahead of today's statement.
"He is missing an opportunity here, a major opportunity to prove that he is capable and willing to be the minister for all the people."
Mr Poots also said political sensitivities had meant that the proposal of an Irish Language Act was divisive.
"Advancing this proposed legislation, which is unlikely to command sufficient consensus within the community at this time, has the potential of damaging good relations, increasing polarisation and entrenching patterns of antipathy and suspicions," he said.
"In my assessment, this could seriously undermine the efforts of those in the Irish language-speaking community who genuinely want to see the language developed in a depoliticised and wholly inclusive manner."
The Ulster Unionist Party's David McNarry welcomed the decision to scrap plans for legislation and sought assurances that a Bill could not be passed instead at Westminster.
The SDLP's Dominic Bradley accused Mr Poots of "understanding the cost of everything and the value of nothing".
"Given the fact that the minister has abdicated his duty to implement the promises made by the two governments in respect of an Irish Language Act as part of the St Andrews Agreement . . . will he now advise the British government of his abdication and ask that the matter should be dealt with at Westminster?" he asked.
The minister denied he had any responsibility for decisions taken by the Irish and UK governments.