Belfast: Irish language street sign mistakes 'not good enough'

Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in dual language street signs are embarrassing for Belfast City Council, a local councillor has said.

Séamas de Faoite was speaking after five misspelled dual language signs were erected in south Belfast.

The Irish translation of the word park - páirc - has been spelled with an ‘e’ instead of a ‘c’.

Mr de Faoite said the mistake occurred when the sign was being printed.

“It’s a pretty obvious mistake that could have been caught before these signs were erected,” he told BBC News NI.

"It appears that the problem here has been when the signs have gone out to print.

“This shouldn’t have happened and the fact that it happened at the last stage of the process is the most frustrating thing for language rights activists, local residents and councillors.”

He said he had asked for measures to be put in place to make sure printing errors do not happen again.

Signs being replaced

Belfast City Council said it is aware of spelling errors on five dual language street signs in three different streets across the city.

It said the signs are currently in the process of being replaced at no additional cost to the council.

“We apologise for this error and will be urgently reviewing our quality assurance processes to ensure this does not happen again,” a spokesperson said.

A new council policy on bilingual street signs came into effect last year.

This policy allows residents to apply for a dual language street sign in any language where they live.

Although Irish is the most popular choice for an alternative language in Belfast, applications can be made for any language including Ulster Scots and Chinese.

If the application gains the support of 15% of residents on the electoral register it can go forward for approval by the council.

Street signs are translated by Queen’s University Belfast before being installed.

However, despite a lengthy council approval process, some Irish translations on signs across Belfast have been printed incorrectly.

Cuisle Nic Liam, from Irish language campaign group Conradh na Gaeilge, said the mistakes were “extremely frustrating and disappointing”.

“The policy that we now have in place in Belfast took decades to get over the line,” she said.

"We thought we had tackled all the hurdles and now we’re in a position where we are being approached by residents saying signs are going up after a long wait full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

“It’s simply not good enough.”