Debate contribution: Irish Language Street Signage in Belfast

Debate contribution by Mr Andy Allen MBE on 13 October 2025.

MLA

Mr Andy Allen MBE

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

13 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Irish Language Street Signage in Belfast

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5176315

Read the official Assembly record

Text

No doubt, as we have heard already, those of us who speak in support of the motion will be labelled as intolerant, regressive or anti-Irish. Those are labels that I do not agree with, but, perhaps, in supporting the motion, I will be adding my name, and those of my colleagues, to the list labelled as such. However, we do not agree with those labels. Public policy should seek to unite communities, not divide them. At its core, the motion highlights that, since 2022, only around 12% of Irish language street sign applications received by Belfast City Council had majority residential support. In preparing for the debate, I spent time going through the various people and communities committee documents that contain the streets on which the signage was proposed and analysing that information. Yes, there were streets that had over 50% support, but the majority were within the range of 20% to 40%. There were also many that did not have the majority support. We have heard about those streets from other Members. We can look at Shandon Park, in my constituency, where 49% — 121 people — of the people surveyed did not support the imposition of a dual language sign on their street, and many fewer did support it. However, that was railroaded through. The crux of the issue before us is not the Irish language. I go back to my comments. I will perhaps be labelled as anti-Irish, but that is not the case. When the Shandon Park street sign was vandalised, just recently, I highlighted in my comments of condemnation that it was wrong — unequivocally wrong. I served in an Irish regiment, and I am proud of the regiment that I served in. Its regimental motto, "faugh a ballagh", has its origins in the Irish language. We cannot deny the fact that the Irish language has been weaponised by some. There may be people who will laugh at that or try to dismiss it, but that is the reality. I speak to many who identify as unionist, as nationalist, as other or none of the above, and they do not support the approach around the dual language signage. That is a fundamental issue when signage is being railroaded through and people do not support it. It further entrenches communities, it sows division, and it does a disservice to the language. What good is that? It is no good. Fundamentally, we have to look at the policy. The policy is, in part, to blame. To reduce it to the 15% and then to go beyond that, as we have heard from other Members who have said, "You know what? Actually, we are not even happy with the 15%. We will just disregard that because, in reality, the 15% threshold has been met, but the majority in the street do not support that approach, but we will push it through", is wrong. We would be much better served by investing in promoting the language, not railroading it on to communities and not through the current policies of Belfast City Council. I am not anti-Irish. I support those who wish to speak the language. I personally do not wish to speak it, and I know many who share the same views. Equally, I know people who do wish to speak it. I have met Linda Ervine, who is a massive promoter of the language, and I have engaged with her. I have heard about how the Irish language is intertwined throughout the fabric of our city. I have no difficulty with that. However, you have to recognise that there are many in our communities who do. Their voices are as important as those who wish to have Irish, and to dismiss them is doing them a disservice. I will finish on this: those who have used the language as a political tool, or, as I refer to it, as weaponisation, should reflect on the disservice that they have done and why we are where we are now. I support the motion and call on Belfast City Council not only to review the policy but to redouble its efforts as to how it can build community cohesion.

698 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Qualifying Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:30 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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