Irish language road signs vandalised with blow torch and pellet gun

Irish language road signs have been the subject of 349 “reported incidents” of vandalism with thugs using a blow torch and pellet gun to attack them, councillors have been told.

The way dual-language street signs were targeted emerged during a debate in which it emerged that more than £329,000 has been spent on the roll-out of the signs across Mid Ulster District Council area.

Cost issues regarding the provision of English-Irish street signage were debated at length at the November 11 Environment committee meeting of Mid Ulster District Council, as councillors had been furnished with a breakdown of all areas of expenditure attached to such provision.

In the course of the debate, the cost of repairing vandalised bilingual street signs was also mentioned, and director of Property Services, Terry Scullion, made a startling revelation in that regard, citing examples of nameplates having been destroyed by blow torch, or damaged by pellet gun.

The Policy relating to dual language street signage was adopted by Mid Ulster District Council in March 2017, with 1,046 street signs purchased to date, at an overall cost of £329,668 over the past eight years, or £41,208 per annum on average.

Of course, that expenditure includes much more than the actual cost involved in purchasing the street signs.

The following costs have been incurred since 2017: administration costs, £71,910; ancillary expenses, £34,170; purchase of signage, £138, 072; erection of signage, £50,208; repairs/replacement of signage, £35,308.

The figures generated a lengthy debate, with nationalist councillors defending a policy which is about promoting the Irish language, while unionist representatives expressed concerns regarding the overall price tag attached to providing the signage.

DUP councillor James Burton was concerned about possible hidden costs, asking: “I thank the officers for bringing this forward, following on from last month’s request. Is there anything outside of this that would also be adding to the cost of the Irish street dual-language signs?”

Fellow DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson echoed his party colleague’s concerns, stating: “It is welcome to have some sort of report back [as] it has been asked for numerous times, and I think it is quite a substantial amount of money.

“In relation to staff costs, I presume the staff costs (are linked to) somebody actually going out to put up the signs. It (says) here that it’s £48 per sign put up.

“Is that for, say, two members of staff? Is that covering their wages? Is that covering their fuel bills, vehicle bills?”

The DUP representative went on to refer to one particular instance, back in 2021, when a request had been received for street signs in English and Tetum – one of the official languages of East Timor.

He added: “Is there any contribution that goes to the salary of our Irish language officer for interpretation, or even interpretation for any language that is brought forward, because there was at least one request at one stage for Tetum, and I don’t see any cost for it.

“It’s not coming out of any budget, apart from the Maintenance budget, and I have real concerns that if requests increase going forward, there (won’t be any) cap on this figure.

“So, I’ll leave those couple of queries in relation to the staff costs.”

Director of Property Services, Terry Scullion explained: “The costs that are in front of members are typically the costs that I’m aware of within the service for the implementation of the dual language policy.

“That includes part of the salaries of a number of people that contribute to the administrative work in relation to the dual-language signage in respect of road and street name plates.

“(The report) tries to reflect those costs as best and as accurately as possible. Similarly, that is linked to the installation of the signage as well, (and the) cost (for) our in-house team to actually install.”

Sinn Féin councillor John McNamee remarked that a similar debate had taken place the previous month, and that changing council policy required adherence to due process: “This is council policy, and as repeated last month, if anybody wants to change that policy, we need to bring a motion to the Council, instead of regurgitating month after month something that’s on for information.”

DUP councillor Mark Robinson asked: “We’ve been asking this for a wee while. It does make for interesting reading. It is a lot of money.

“You’ve mentioned that there’s 349 reported incidents. Is that 349 signs have been replaced, or is that just reports?”

The senior council officer replied: “It’s 349 reported incidents. They can range from signs actually being cut out, or just vandalised with marker, or destroyed by blow torch, damaged by pellet gun, all sorts of damage.

“Some of the repairs are easier to do. Maybe it’s the backboard and it can be cleaned or replaced, or it may be the entire signage infrastructure.”

“That’s 349 reported instances, and for some of them that may well be multiple signs damaged.”

Referring to the annual cost attached to the provision of bilingual signage, Sinn Féin councillor Niall McAleer remarked: “You would think, from listening to some of the DUP councillors over the last number of months, [that] their message is very simple, they want to take offence to anything that’s remotely connected to money spent on the Irish language.

“It’s the same party that has been celebrating the allocation of public funds to bands, some of whom have participated in remembrance events for Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville.

“Their commentary around the Irish language isn’t to be taken seriously, and they’re not driven by a concern for public funds, but by a fear of their political rivals in the TUV and other social media warriors, who hate the Irish language and culture.”

Mirroring Councillor Cuthbertson’s concerns, Councillor James Burton asked: “Is there a cap on dual-language signage? Is there any sort of figure, if we reach it and we go into the red, that [the provision of bilingual signs] can’t take place, or is it just a free-for-all?”

Mr Scullion replied: “It’s council policy that we have to implement, and that’s the task of officers.”

Deputy Chief Executive of Mid Ulster District Council, Anne-Marie Campbell was anxious to respond to Councillor James Burton’s assertion that funding allocation for bilingual street signs – or, indeed, any other area of spending – was a “free-for-all”.

She stated: “I just want to respond to a comment that was made by a member in relation to the ‘free-for-all’ management of council budgets.

“Council officers take the management of their budgets very seriously, and there’s not a free-for-all when it comes to council budgets.

“We carefully manage them on a month-to-month basis, to ensure that whatever expenditure is incurred is within the envelope of expenditure that’s been allocated to the particular departments.”

Indepedent councillor Kevin McElvogue encouraged his colleagues on Council, right across the board, to condemn acts of vandalism targeting bilingual street signs: “Maybe some of these councillors will condemn the damage that’s done to the dual-language signage. It’ll take the cost down a wee bit.

“A lot of people are voting for this. The people want the signage. So, enable that.”