Ervine has attracted media attention because of her coming from a Protestant and Unionist family background and her support for an Irish Language Act (a position generally regarded in her community as unconventional).
Ervine comes from an Ulster Protestant background, and she supports Northern Ireland remaining within the United Kingdom; her family held socialist and trade unionist views when she was growing up.
[2] She is the sister-in-law of David Ervine, a former member of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and later the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party.
Because unionists in Northern Ireland traditionally associate revival efforts for Celtic languages exclusively with the Catholic Church in Ireland and with Irish republicanism, Ervine has often lectured publicly about Douglas Hyde and the Protestant history of involvement in the Gaelic revival and about the Scottish Gaelic-speaking Presbyterian communities in the Hebrides.
"[11] She supported the proposed Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland, saying that Ulster unionists have "nothing to fear" from the legislation and that non-Irish speakers will not be negatively impacted.