The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has tabled a petition of concern in a bid to block proposed legislation on Irish-medium education.

The private member's bill, brought forward by Sinn Féin assembly member Pat Sheehan, would require Stormont's Department of Education to prepare a workforce plan on schools in the sector.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the petition was the latest outworking of their response to Sinn Féin's "arrogance" over the Drumcree parading dispute.

Sheehan described the move as a "disgraceful abuse" of the veto mechanism and accused the DUP of "nothing but anti-Irish bigotry".

The fall-out comes after unionist anger over Sinn Féin's involvement in protests on the Garvaghy Road, which blocked a contentious Orange Order parade from passing along the mainly nationalist street in Portadown, County Armagh.

First Minister Michelle O'Neill and several other senior Sinn Féin figures have been interviewed by police investigating the demonstrations, with unionists accusing the party of acting unlawfully.

Last month the DUP, which shares power with Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland's devolved government, announced it would block official engagements involving O'Neill in response to the fall-out.

On Monday, Robinson said the DUP wanted to "ensure the arrogance of Sinn Féin is kept in check" and his party would use the "mechanisms at our disposal to thwart their agenda".

"And you will see the outworkings of that today in relation to the Irish-medium legislation that is before the assembly," the DUP leader told reporters at Stormont.

"We have tabled a petition of concern and we understand from our discussions over the course of the last number of days that that will receive support from other unionist parties."

The petition of concern requires the signatures of 30 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly from at least two parties.

If deployed on an issue, it means any vote requires cross-community support from a majority of both unionists and nationalists in the chamber.

The Irish-medium education bill is due to be voted on by members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) on Tuesday.

Sheehan said his proposed law would require the Department of Education to "plan properly" to meet the needs of Irish-medium schools.

Speaking in the assembly chamber, the Sinn Féin MLA accused the DUP of "nothing but anti-Irish bigotry".

"The DUP talked about punishing Sinn Féin. It's not us you're punishing - it's children who wish to learn through the Irish language. It's their families and their schools who will bear the consequences," he said.

Sheehan added: "A safeguard intended to protect minorities is being turned against children educated through a minority language.

"That is a disgraceful abuse of its purpose."

Stormont's Irish language commissioner Pól Deeds said the educational needs of children "should not be drawn into wider political debates".

He argued that the objective of Irish-medium education was not to provide an advantage to one sector over another, but to to address gaps in provision and "to ensure that children and families who choose Irish-medium education can access the same opportunities".

He said suggestions that measures to support it amount to preferential treatment "fail to take account of existing government commitments to support Irish medium education as well as the historic lack of investment and significant challenges the sector continues to face".

Deeds cited a 2024 report on the UK's implementation of the European Charter, were "the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts called for immediate action to develop and implement a strategy for the recruitment and training of teachers within the Irish-medium education sector".

Conchúr Ó Muadaigh, who is a member of Irish language group Conradh na Gaeilge described the DUP's actions as "scandalous".

"There is nothing radical about legislating for equitable and equal treatment for Irish speaking schools," he said.

Ó Muadaigh said the move will punish every school and child in the Irish language sector.

"No party should be supporting this attempt to misuse the Petition of Concern as a sectarian veto against 7,000 Irish speaking students. The Petition of Concern was conceived as a mechanism to protect minorities. Using it in this way is an outrageous abuse of that mechanism," he added.

Alliance Party MLA, Eóin Tennyson, described the move by the DUP as "petty swipes and petulant stunts" which are "walking the Assembly to the brink".

"It's hard to imagine how fragile Gavin Robinson's sense of identity must be if he is threatened by children being educated through the medium of Irish," he added.

"This bill is simply about requiring the department to plan properly to address workforce shortages. Children and schools should not be punished for the DUP's internal wrangling and foolishness.

"This latest abuse again underlines the urgent need to reform Stormont, fix our broken politics and ensure no single party can hold progress to ransom."

BBC News NI understands the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has now also signed the DUP's petition of concern on the Irish-medium education bill.

Earlier, UUP leader, Jon Burrows, said he would be minded to support it.

"I'm going to actively consider that today. I haven't formally decided that but there is merit." he told reporters at Stormont.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said his party would also be willing to sign the petition.

He described the private member's bill as a "disproportionate tilting of funding in a very partisan and selective way".