Each of the 11 council areas in the north have their own specific rules for applying for bilingual street signs.

Within the council areas, there are:

• Councils who have adopted progressive street signage policies
• Councils whose street signage policies are regressive
• Councils with no bespoke policy for street signs

The level of disparity between the street signage policies of the 11 council areas means that residents are able to see Irish on street signs in one council area, but are not afforded the same right in another. Even upon the erection of bilingual street signs, they are subject to damage and hate crime.

Irish belongs to everyone; every resident in every council area should be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate demand for the erection of bilingual street signs. Read descriptions of the policies of each of the 11 council areas below.

Councils with no street signage policy

• Mid and East Antrim Borough Council (zero-rated)

The absence of a bespoke policy in this council areas means that residents are unable to apply for a dual language street sign.

Some council areas have even gone a step further in attempts to eradicate Irish; in 2018, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council attempted to implement an English-only street sign policy. This judgement was set aside following a High-Court challenge by a resident on grounds of discrimination.

A year later, in 2019, the same council threatened to prosecute an 85-year-old woman for having a self-made Irish language street sign on her property.

Since then, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council have adopted a dual language street signage policy in July 2022, but the policy itself is extremely restrictive and is totally at odds with the best-practice policies of other council areas.

Councils with weak street signage policies

Ards and North Down Borough Council (★)

• Any resident wishing to apply for a dual language street sign must first gather a petition from 33% of residents of the street to initiate the process.
• Upon presentation of a valid petition, the council will conduct a postal survey with all residents of the street who are on the electoral register. The postal survey requires support from 66% of residents in order for the application to be successful.
• If a resident doesn’t respond to the postal survey, they are regarded as being opposed to the erection of the dual language street sign.

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council (★)

• Any resident wishing to apply for a dual language street sign must first gather a petition from 33% of residents of the street to initiate the process.
• Upon presentation of a valid petition, the council will conduct a postal survey with all residents of the street who are on the electoral register. The postal survey requires support from 66% of residents in order for the application to be successful.
• If a resident doesn’t respond to the postal survey, they are regarded as being opposed to the erection of the dual language street sign.
• If the application is unsuccessful, re-applications for that street are banned for a period of 5 years.

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (★)

• Any resident wishing to apply for a dual language street sign must first gather a petition from 33% of residents of the street to initiate the process.
• Upon presentation of a valid petition, the council will conduct a postal survey with all residents of the street who are on the electoral register. The postal survey requires support from 66% of residents in order for the application to be successful.
• If a resident doesn’t respond to the postal survey, they are regarded as being opposed to the erection of the dual language street sign.
• Views which oppose the erection of a bilingual street sign will be considered by the relevant committee.
• If the application is successful, the Irish street name must be a direct translation of the English, and the applicant will bear the cost of this.
• If the application is unsuccessful, re-applications for that street are banned for a period of a year.

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council (★)

• Any resident wishing to apply for a dual language street sign must first gather a petition from 33% of residents of the street to initiate the process.
• Upon presentation of a valid petition, the council will conduct a postal survey with all residents of the street who are on the electoral register. The postal survey requires support from 66% of residents in order for the application to be successful.
• If a resident doesn’t respond to the postal survey, they are regarded as being opposed to the erection of the dual language street sign.
• If the application is unsuccessful, re-applications for that street are banned for a period of 2 years.

Residents in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon have recently launched judicial review proceedings as the Council refused an application for a bilingual street sign, which overcame all obstacles and achieved all required support. Of the 95 residents in Woodside Hill, 64 responded in favour of the application and 3 against and the council used their discretion to deny the application.

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council (★)

• Any resident wishing to apply for a dual language street sign must first gather a petition from 33% of residents of the street to initiate the process.
• Upon presentation of a valid petition, the council will conduct a postal survey with all residents of the street who are on the electoral register. The postal survey requires support from 66% of residents in order for the application to be successful.
• If the application is unsuccessful, re-applications for that street are banned for a period of 3 years.
• The Council will only accept 3 applications per month.

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council approved their first ever bilingual street signs in January 2024.

Councils with more progressive street signage policies

Belfast City Council (★★★)

• An individual resident on the electoral register from the street in question can initiate the process for a bilingual street sign by contacting the council.
• The council will then conduct a postal survey which requires support from 15% of residents in order for the application to be successful.
• The council will accept 6 applications per month.

Since adopting a new, minority-compliant policy in July of 2022, Belfast City Council have received more than 1,000 applications for bilingual street signs.

Derry City and Strabane District Council (★★★)

• An individual resident on the electoral register from the street in question can initiate the process for a bilingual street sign by contacting the council.
• Under their current policy, the council will then conduct a postal survey which requires support from 66% of residents.
• In January 2021, DSDC passed a motion which would lower the threshold of support for dual language street signs from 66% to 15%. The report to officially ratify this decision is expected to go before the Environment and Regeneration Committee in the coming months. Until then, applications still require a 66% support threshold from residents in order to be successful.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (★★★½)

• An individual resident on the electoral register from the street in question can initiate the process for a bilingual street sign by contacting the council.
• The council will then conduct a postal survey which requires support from 15% of residents in order for the application to be successful.

Mid Ulster District Council (★★★½)

• An individual resident on the electoral register from the street in question can initiate the process for a bilingual street sign by contacting the council. The council do not accept requests that are contained in the body of an email. Their process requires a signed letter from the resident.
• The council will then conduct a postal survey which requires support from 50(+1)% of respondents in order for the application to be successful.
• If the application is unsuccessful, the council places a one year ban on re-applications for that street.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (★★★½)

• An individual resident on the electoral register from the street in question can initiate the process for a bilingual street sign by contacting the council.
• The council will then conduct a postal survey which requires support from 50(+1)% of respondents in order for the application to be successful.