Belfast’s Irish language street signs damaged at rate of at least one per week

Dual language street signs featuring Irish in Belfast have been damaged at a rate of at least one a week in 2025, according to new figures.

It comes after police in Mid Ulster made what is believed to be the first arrest in relation to criminal damage to bilingual street signs in Northern Ireland last week.

Figures obtained by The Irish News via a Freedom of Information request reveal that so far this year, Belfast City Council (BCC) has noted 56 incidents of damage to bilingual signs in the district – the equivalent of at least one incident per week.

The figure for 2025 is almost double the total noted for 2024, when the council noted 32 incidents throughout the year.

In its response, the council added that it only holds the information from October 19, 2023 onwards.

From mid-October 2023 until the end of that year, there were eight incidents of damage recorded.

The cost of repairs for damage to signs totalled £618.72 for mid-October to the end of 2023, £2,225.04 in 2024 and £2,050.40 to date in 2025.

The targeting of signs recorded by the council does not always involve serious damage, such as the incident involving an angle grinder being used on a sign in east Belfast, but can include incidents such as graffiti being sprayed.

Speaking to the Irish News, Sinn Féin council group leader Ciaran Beattie said that while the incidents had risen this year, they took place in the context of bilingual street signs going up “tenfold”.

Cost of Repairs for Damage to Dual Language Street Signs in Belfast

“The damage also is not all being done by angle grinders, that was one incident” he said.

“The rest of it could be a marker, it could be spray paint, it could be stuff that’s just wiped off with a cleaning fluid – but they’re still recorded.

“We’re not worried about it to be honest with you, it’s not as if there’s a massive escalation in this.

“There’s been a huge increase in signage going up, but it’s minor damage that’s mainly done to them.”

Mr Beattie said that the increase in bilingual signs in the city this year following the council’s move to a 15% resident approval threshold has been “really positive”.

“To be honest with you, what I get is people going, ‘What about my street?’,” he said.

“The only issues that I get is the length of time it’s taken to do some of them, because there is a massive backlog now with the requests that are in.

“The backlog can take up to two to three years.”

He added that he hoped the council’s new Irish language policy would “speed some of that up”.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Irish language activist group An Dream Dearg said that incidents of damage to bilingual signs were “attacks on equality”.

• “Irish on street signage was illegal in the north until 1995,” they said.

“Language equality means both Irish and English must occupy shared spaces and shared signage.

“Those who choose to go out, usually under the cloak of darkness, to attack a street sign, are choosing to risk obtaining a criminal record in the pursuit of cultural supremacy. These are attacks on equality.

“Belfast City Council is to be commended for adopting a minority rights compliant street signage policy that finally seeks to address the legacy of colonialism and centuries of ‘English-only’ civic spaces.”