Progress on bilingual road sign pilot in west Belfast’s Gaeltacht area

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has confirmed that ‘good progress’ is being made on a pilot scheme to provide traffic signs in both Irish and English in west Belfast’s Gaeltacht Quarter.

The scheme, which is to trial bilingual traffic signs on the Falls Road between Springfield Road and Whiterock Road, was first announced in October by then-minister John O’Dowd.

The first of its kind pilot in the north is being developed with input from local Irish language development agency Forbairt Feirste.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) is also designing the layouts of the signs using guidance issued by advocacy group Conradh na Gaeilge.

DfI says it has identified 93 upright traffic signs and 35 worded road markings within the pilot area, with the majority of these relating to bus lanes.

Ms Kimmins said: “I am committed to promoting the Irish language as widely as possible within my remit so am pleased to confirm that we are making good progress on the development of the bilingual road traffic sign pilot in the Gaeltacht Quarter in Belfast.”

“As we celebrate Seachtain na Gaelige, this is an important and positive development to demonstrate my support for the Irish language as a living language used daily by this thriving community, and the actions being taken by my department.”

The addition of Irish to road traffic signs falls within DfI’s remit, while councils are responsible for Irish street signs.

It was recently revealed that Belfast City Council would survey three ‘long streets’ in the north of the city for the addition of signs in Gaeilge.

• The council is considering keeping English-only signs in parts of the street where bilingual signs are not wanted by residents.

This is currently in practice on the Donegall Road, where bilingual signs can be found on the Falls Road but not beyond the Broadway Roundabout towards the loyalist Village and Sandy Row areas.