‘All they’re achieving is a bill for the ratepayer’ – Cost of repairing vandalised Irish language street signs across Northern Ireland emerges

An MLA says the only thing those behind attacks on Irish language street signs are achieving is a “bill for ratepayers” as new figures reveal that councils in the north have spent over £55,000 on repair bills since 2020.

Across the north’s 11 councils, 499 reported incidents of damage to bilingual signs were reported in the five-year period, resulting in an average repair bill of £110 per incident.

Overall, around 70% of the incidents took place in just two council areas, with their repair bills accounting for 90% of the total expenditure.

In response to a Freedom of Information request from The Irish News, six councils confirmed that they had recorded incidents of damage to bilingual street signswithin their districts.

More than half of all the total incidents (257) took place within the Mid Ulster area, setting the council back £25,580 over the last five years and representing 46.9% of the total spend across all council areas.

Incidents of damage to signs can range from vandalism caused by markers or spray paint to signs being cut out, with repairs ranging from cleaning to replacement and resulting in varying costs.

In November last year, a Mid Ulster council official said that damage included signs being “destroyed by blow torch” or being “damaged by pellet gun”.

While the repair spend was highest in Mid Ulster, the average repair cost was £99.53.

Meanwhile, the area with the next highest spend, Fermanagh and Omagh, worked out at an average repair of £222.71 per incident across its 105 reports for a total of £23,385.

Incidents were recorded in the district from 2022 onwards, with £15,790 spent on repairs for 32 incidents in 2023/24 financial year – at an average of £493.44.

The area with the next highest repair expenditure was Belfast, which totalled £4,894.16 across 96 incidents between records commencing in late 2023 and December 2025.

As reported in December, incidents of damage rose in the city last year with damage occurring at a rate of one incident per week.

There were also 37 reported incidents of damage to signs in Newry, Mourne and Down – with the council unable to distinguish how much it spent on repairs from its annual budget of £5,000 for erecting and maintaining signage.

Elsewhere, three incidents occurred in Derry and Strabane, costing the council £590 in repairs, with one incident in Antrim and Newtownabbey cost £100 to repair.

The remaining councils either had no reported incidents of damage or did not have signs within their district.

SDLP MLA for Mid Ulster and party spokesperson for the Irish language, Patsy McGlone, said that the repeated attacks on signs across his constituency and the north were “deeply disappointing”.

“These signs have been installed because they have the support of people living in these areas,” he said.

“They are simply a recognition of culture and pose no threat to anyone.

“What these figures show is the futility of these attacks and the not insignificant cost to local councils. All those behind these attacks are achieving is a bill for ratepayers.

"These signs are not going away, any sign defaced or destroyed will have to be repaired or replaced and that leaves council with less money to spend on other important initiatives.”