Strong support for new English-Irish street signage

In all, 27 survey letters were sent to residents living on the Cloughfin Road, in keeping with Mid Ulster District Council’s policy on the provision of bilingual signage, and 10 householders responded.

As they were all in favour of bilingual street signs, a 100 per cent majority was achieved.

At Quay Court, nine survey letters were sent, with six returned, all in favour of bilingual signage. Again, this translated into a 100 per cent majority in favour.

There was no such unanimity on the Cornamaddy Road, with 81 survey letters sent, and 44 returned.

The breakdown was as follows: 28 responses in favour of bilingual street signage provision, 10 against, and six responses deemed invalid.

While residents were divided over the provision of English-Irish street signs on this occasion, the ‘majority test’ was still met, with 74 per cent of residents in favour.

The matter was listed as an agenda item at the June 9 Environment committee meeting of Mid Ulster District Council.

Committee chair, Councillor Donna Mullin (Sinn Féin, Cookstown DEA) commented: “There are two local roads to myself — Cloughfin and Cornamaddy. So I do welcome them progressing now, and it will be great to see the signs on the road.”

Meanwhile, requests have been made for English-Irish street signage at the following locations: Ardkeen Close, Dungannon; Cluntoe View, Ardboe; Tobin Park, Moortown; Brookend Road, Ardboe; Castlefarm Road, Stewartstown; Richmond Manor, Ballygawley.

Council Chair, Councillor Deirdre Varsani (SF) expressed the hope that Ardkeen Close, in particular, would be translated into Irish by way of street signage, as she remarked on its beautiful meaning in the Irish language.

The Dungannon DEA representative, who is well known for her very good command of the Irish language, commented: “I noticed there’s a beautiful application in from Dungannon.

“Obviously, we don’t know whether it’s going to be successful or not, but nonetheless, I think it’s of note. It’s from Ardkeen Close, and I welcome this opportunity to find out about the meaning of what our place names are.

“So, this one would be the ‘Hill of Mourning’, or the ‘Hill of Cries’. And I think that’s beautiful — I’m sure there must be some even more involved stories about that from our history. And I just want to again welcome the opportunity for us all to find out more about what the stories were about these place names.”

A survey is now going to be carried out at the above locations, to find out if a majority of residents want to have English-Irish street signage where they live.

In addition, the following streets/roads are out for survey right now: Cove Close, Ballyronan; Lovedale, Ballyronan; Pomeroy Road, Cookstown.