Latest attack on Irish language sign in Belfast ‘disappointing’, Lord Mayor says

Damage has been caused to a bilingual street sign featuring Irish in Belfast for the second time in three months.

The sign at Cranmore Gardens in the south of the city was targeted in recent days, with red spray paint used to cover the Irish wording.

The sign, which was erected following approval by Belfast City Council in February, was previously targeted in April, when white paint was used to cover the Irish name of the street…

The latest damage was condemned by Belfast Lord Mayor Mickey Murray, who posted an image of the sign on social media.

“Really disappointing that the dual language street signage at Cranmore Gardens was defaced over the past couple of days, in an attempt to remove the Irish street name,” the Alliance councillor for the Balmoral area wrote.

“I’ve got most of it cleaned off, and I’ve asked Council to attend to give it a good clean.”

The incident was condemned by Irish language campaign group Conradh na Gaeilge, who described the damage to the signage as “sectarian”.

April’s incident was investigated by police as a sectarian hate crime.

A PSNI spokesperson told the Irish News on Monday that no report to police had yet been made about the latest incident.

There has been a spate of attacks on street signs in Belfast featuring Irish in recent months, following a new policy by Belfast City Council that makes it easier to trigger a consultation among residents on erecting a bilingual nameplate.

The policy came into effect last year, and allows a consultation to take place if just one resident of a street - or a councillor - requests it. A sign will be erected if 15% of residents want it.

Under the previous policy, 33% of residents were required to trigger a consultation, and 66% of residents being in favour was required for a new sign to be put in place.

The Cranmore Gardens sign was erected despite a 50/50 split among residents who replied to the consultation.

In total, 35 were for the new sign, and 35 against, while 50 residents did not respond. The sign was erected as it had met the 15% threshold.