An Ulster-Scots revolution is threatening to change the face of the Irish Republic. Yes folks, "parity of esteem" - a product of the Belfast Agreement much cherished by northern nationalists - may be coming to play at a Government agency, Garda station or classroom near you.
Certainly if Ulster Unionist peer The Lord Laird of Artigarvan has his way, future generations will be schooled in the ways of the Ulster-Scots language and culture. And the school curriculum is just one item on a hit-list from the Ulster-Scots Agency in Belfast which recently landed in the Office of the Taoiseach.
Lord Laird, co-chair of the cross-Border implementation body on Language, has written to Mr Dermot McCarthy, Secretary General to the Government, announcing plans for a "process" for the importation of Ulster-Scots he cheerfully predicts could cost the Irish taxpayer "some billions".
"In a constructive attempt" to advance "equal treatment of both traditions on this island", Lord Laird has asked for a range of information embracing the procedure and criteria for all public appointments. This entails the process for effecting major changes in the education curriculum; the agencies responsible for official signage and documentation; procedures for selecting and training members of the police service; an update on the development of Human Rights legislation to the standard applicable in the North; and the cultural activities undertaken by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
In the House of Lords next week, Lord Laird will be arguing the unionist case for the retention of the Royal Ulster Constabulary as part of a double-barrelled name for the new "Police Service of Northern Ireland". In the same spirit, he suggests the Garda Siochana will in future double-up as the Hainin Polis. Likewise, the President, Mrs McAleese, could find herself residing at "Aras an Uachtarain - Ha o tha Thane".
But Lord Laird isn't planning to stop at a few name changes. Just as applicants for jobs in the official sector require a knowledge of the Irish language, so he argues they will in future need to be familiar with Ulster-Scots. Ireland's youth, he says, must learn "who we are, and the major contribution we've made to modern society - particularly in my opinion the single-most important event in modern history, the Declaration of Independence of the United States, which was an Ulster-Scots event, as everybody knows."
Lord Laird will congratulate the Government next week "for the way they're handling the reorganisation of the Garda Siochana", which he says is in the agreement, and he assumes to be on its way. And he is lavish in praise of his "Irish-language colleagues" who were the first to recognise that "parity of esteem means parity of funding". The Taoiseach, doubtless, will be delighted.