Irish street sign vandalism cost councils £60,000

Irish language and bilingual street signs in Northern Ireland have been vandalised more than 300 times in the past five years.

Almost £60,000 was spent by councils repairing and replacing the damaged signage, according to figures obtained by BBC News NI.

Some signs were daubed with paint or graffiti while others were burned, stolen or pulled down.

Nearly two thirds of the incidents were in the Mid Ulster District Council area.

It recorded 209 occasions when bilingual signs were damaged since 2020, which cost more than £21,000 to repair and replace.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council had 74 incidents while Belfast City Council recorded 23, according to responses released under the Freedom of Information Act.

‘No justification’

There were also 15 incidents in the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area and four recorded in Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Northern Ireland’s other six local authorities said they either have no dual language street signs or no record of any incidents.

Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh, from the Irish language campaign group Conradh na Gaeilge, said there was “no justification for anti-Irish hate crimes”.

He said dual language signage “demonstrates inclusiveness” and helps show the linguistic origins of many place names.

“Increasing visibility of the language also leads to increased normalisation of the language, which is particularly important in our shared spaces,” he said.

‘Irish language belongs to all of us’

Social Democratic and Labour Party assembly member Patsy McGlone, an Irish speaker, described the vandalism as “disgraceful”.

He said he was “particularly disappointed” at the scale of incidents in his constituency of Mid Ulster.

“This is a shared community where people live and work alongside each other in mutual respect. The vandalism of these signs is in no way representative of that,” he said.

“The Irish language belongs to all of us, it poses no threat to anyone and I would call for those behind these incidents to cease immediately.”

‘Abuse of the language’

The development of policies to promote the Irish language has been a point of political dispute between unionists and Irish nationalists.

Traditional Unionist Voice councillor Ron McDowell said he would “condemn utterly any vandalism”, but added that many unionists felt signage was being “foisted upon communities that don’t see themselves as having an Irish identity”.

“We have nothing against the Irish heritage, but what we see across the city, across Northern Ireland, is an abuse of the language,” he said.

The Belfast councillor argued it was being “used as a weapon” to “green” the city and other council areas.

“And that’s why there’s such a strong resistance from people in local communities,” he added.

In September, European language experts said many councils in Northern Ireland make it too difficult for Irish street signs to be approved and displayed.

But the group, from the Council of Europe, also said street signs remain “a highly contentious topic”.

The UK government stepped in to introduce Irish and Ulster Scots legislation for Northern Ireland in 2022 following a political stalemate at Stormont over the laws.

Key elements have not yet been progressed, such as appointing an Irish-language commissioner and a commissioner for Ulster Scots and the “Ulster-British” tradition.

Dr Ó Tiarnaigh from Conradh na Gaeilge said local councils “have a duty to take resolute action to promote Irish”.

“This will be an urgent matter of concern for the long overdue Irish-language commissioner,” he added.