Sinn Féin has said the people of the Belfast Gaeltacht were “very disappointed” after a decision at City Hall to sign the area's streets in Irish was halted after a council 'call-in'.
Earlier this month Alliance and nationalist parties had bitter exchanges at Belfast City Council over a proposal to put up Irish language street signs across the whole of the West Belfast Gaeltacht Quarter.
Sinn Féin accused Alliance of “slowing down” the Irish language along with the DUP, after they opposed a proposal to treat the Gaeltacht as one bulk application, rather than go through the area street by street.
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Sinn Féin argue that the move would save money and time in the context of a huge backlog of applications for Irish street signs in Belfast.
On a vote at City Hall, a proposal to agree to a bulk application for dual language signs in the Gaeltacht “in principle” was carried, with 29 votes in favour and 26 against. Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Green Party, and People Before Profit voted in favour, while Alliance, the DUP, the UUP and PUP voted against.
However, at the council’s recent meeting of its Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, it was revealed the decision had been halted, and could possibly be dropped, after at least nine councillors out of the 60 members 'called in' the decision for further consideration. The call in will involve an independent legal examination.
Councillors have to give reasons for the call-in, explaining why they believe the decision “was not arrived at after a proper consideration of the relevant facts and issues” and why they believe the decision “would disproportionately affect adversely any section of the inhabitants of the district”.
Call-in requisitions have to be delivered to the Chief Executive within five working days of the publication of the draft minutes or decision register.
Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie said at the S,P&R Committee: “I’m not happy the Gaeltacht Quarter decision was called in, and neither are the people who live there. They are very disappointed.
“We have a policy from 2012 on the Gaeltacht Quarter, and it is quite clear on the development of bilingual signage in Irish and English. It is an extensive piece, and with work from none other than Deloitte, paid for by this council and adopted by this council.
“This call-in is unfortunate, I don’t think it will be successful, and whoever is giving the legal advice around the call-in should be furnished with our policy on the Gaeltacht Quarter.”
At the full council meeting in March, an Alliance proposal by Councillor Michael Long to have “up to” 100 dual language signs approved under the current process by December 2023, was carried.
It comes following a report into Belfast Council’s processing of new Irish street signs which showed only one new sign was made since the council changed its policy last summer.
In the six months since Belfast City Council policy on dual language street signs was changed to make thresholds easier, over 600 applications were made for Irish street signs - with only one having been processed.
Councillor Long said at the S,P&R Committee: “I am pleased to note the call-in only referred to the decision on the Gaeltacht Quarter, and I am pleased my proposal for 100 streets is passed, which will accelerate the process and practically deliver more Irish street signs than anything else.”
Last July councillors agreed the controversial new policy would finally be implemented - 18 months after the policy was originally given the go-ahead in the chamber. Sinn Féin, Alliance, the SDLP, the Green Party, and the People Before Profit Party all support the new street sign policy, while the three unionist parties, the DUP, UUP and PUP, are against it.
The new policy means at least one resident of any Belfast street, or a councillor, is all that is required to trigger a consultation on a second nameplate, with 15 percent in favour being sufficient to erect the sign. Non-responses will no longer be counted as “against” votes, and there will be an equality assessment for each application.
Up until last July, the policy required 33.3 percent of the eligible electorate in any Belfast street to sign a petition to begin the process, and 66.6 percent to agree to the new dual language sign on the street.
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