Irish language signs targeted for third time in east Belfast street

A bilingual street sign featuring Irish has been vandalised yet again in an east Belfast street.

The signage at Shandon Park is believed to have been targeted overnight between Monday and Tuesday.

Two signs at the Knock Road end of the street were vandalised. One had the Irish wording of the street name daubed over with white paint, while the other had the Irish painted over with Union flag stickers also placed over it.

It is the third time that bilingual signage in the street has been targeted by vandals since being installed last year.

In December, two signs in the street had the Irish wording covered with black paint, while two months before that the Irish name was cut out of one of the signs with what is believed to have been an angle grinder.

Police said they were investigating both previous incidents as a hate crime.

The PSNI has been approached for comment regarding this latest incident.

The signage was installed last year after a decision by Belfast City Council to block it was reversed.

In June 2025, Alliance and DUP councillors blocked the application for bilingual signage, but this was overturned by councillors at a full meeting the following month.

In a council survey of residents, 49.59% responded to say they were not in favour of bilingual signs with Irish, compared to 16.8% who were, while 2.86% said they had no preference.

The council’s new dual language signage policy was introduced in 2022, and means a survey can be triggered by just one resident or councillor, compared to a required 33.3% under the old policy.

Under the new policy just 15% of residents are required to agree a that a new sign is installed, while pre-2022 66.6% were needed to agree it.