MLAs clash over Belfast’s dual-language sign policy

MLAs clashed on Monday over a DUP motion calling for the replacement of Belfast City Council’s dual-language street sign policy.

The party said the policy, which allows for the erection of bilingual signs if 15% of a street’s residents express support for the move, led to the “view of the minority trumping the view of the majority”.

The DUP added that it was “the imposition of minority rule on residents from all backgrounds and traditions”.

The motion was not carried – 41 of the 69 MLAs voted against it.

The party’s spokesperson for local government, Brian Kingston, said it has “damaged community relations, particularly in streets which are quietly mixed, where residents from different community backgrounds otherwise live side by side, peacefully and with a large degree of tolerance”.

He said some of his constituents claimed Irish signs had “caused them to seriously consider moving”.

He added: “Many have said it will reduce the value of their property by reducing potential interest from the Unionist community.”

Sinn Fein’s Pat Sheehan said “the Irish language is not a threat to anyone” and claimed the motion was “an attempt to drag us backwards”.

Addressing the chamber in Irish, he referenced research carried out by the Irish language group Conradh na Gaeilge, which found only 2.9% of all residents questioned across 536 approved streets, opposed dual-language signage.

He said “vexatious” judicial reviews were being used to “frustrate the will of the people of Belfast and that of the democratically elected councillors”.

He added: “We often hear the DUP talking about waste of public money in relation to the Irish language.

“How much money have they squandered supporting legal challenges, money that could have been spent on improving services, supporting our communities?”

Nuala McAllister of the Alliance party said the conversation about dual language signage has become “widely distorted and at times misinformed”.

She pointed to a long history of support for the Irish language from Protestant communities, saying: “This is a part of our history. It belongs to all of us, not to one party and not to one side of the community.”

The Belfast North MLA said her party would not support “any street sign where the majority of those respondents do not agree”, and accused Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Green Party of reneging on that deal.

However, she did acknowledge the 15% threshold in the policy is “based on international best practice”.

The UUP’s Andy Allen, whose constituency includes Shandon Park, where a dual-language sign was was vandalised at the weekend, said people on the street did not support its “imposition” and claimed the decision had been “railroaded through”.

He added: “We’d be much better served in investing in promoting the language.”

The SDLP’s Matthew O’Toole described the motion as “irresponsible”, saying it was not about “getting to a place of greater understanding” and rather about “forcing confrontation”.