Unionists feel ‘ignored’ over Irish language policy

The unionist community have been “ignored” after Belfast City council voted in favour of adopting a new draft Irish language policy, a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor has said.

Dean McCullough said unionist concerns had been “dismissed” and “demonised” and his party would “continue to oppose” the policy.

The policy would lead to the council adopting English-Irish signage at its facilities, as well as a new bilingual logo for vehicles and uniforms.

At a council meeting on Wednesday evening, Sinn Féin councillor Tomás Ó Néill said the policy would be “transformative”, and that it was a “historic decision by councillors”.

However, McCullough told BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster programme while the people he represented were not anti-Irish, Irish was not “part of their identity”.

Unionist councillors are now expected to submit a call-in, a mechanism where a decision of the council is reviewed.

TUV deputy leader Ron McDowell added that the Irish language was being “weaponised, politicised and forced on communities that don’t want it”.

“There are huge areas of the city that don’t have an Irish population, don’t identify as Irish and why should we therefore have Irish thrust upon us?”

The proposed new 18-page policy, which has been published on the council’s website, was approved by a Belfast City Council committee in September, and was ratified on Wednesday night.

Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Alliance, People Before Profit and the Green Party voted in favour of adopting the policy.

The DUP, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) voted against.

McDowell said councillors had been told there was “a £1.9m initial outlay to get up and running” but after that there were “no costings”.

“The only place after that that Belfast City Council can have a pool of money is from ratepayers’ pockets,” he said.

McDowell said it was unclear how much was “going to come from pockets” and if there would be rates increases as a result.

McCullough added that ratepayers were “being asked to foot the bill” for a policy that they did not want, when they could not “get proper access to basic services”.

However, Alliance councillor Michael Long told BBC News NI’s Evening Extra programme on Wednesday that the £1.9m under-spend meant ratepayers would “not actually be paying a penny more to implement the policy”.

He said the council has asked for a quarterly report to ensure the implementation of the policy stays within budget.

Sinn Féin councillor Natasha Brennan said the policy had been “widely consulted on” and was “a historic moment for the city in terms of equality for the indigenous language within the city”.

She said it followed best practice as set out in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

“I wouldn’t ever say one area is not representative of or not identifying as Irish,” she added.

“We can’t categorise single communities and areas. This is for everybody in our city.

“We have a very vibrant Irish language population and people that want to see more that and this is about bringing that best practice.”

She described the call-in plans as “disappointing” and “not forward-thinking”.

SDLP councillor Séamas de Fáoite said there was a “huge amount of effort going on to ensure we are representative of the city as a whole”.

“The DUP have a responsibility here to actually build up good relations around the Irish language,” he added.

“Instead at every single moment what they do is try to trash the Irish language, Irish culture and Irish identity instead of working with the rest of us to try and build up Belfast as a city where multiple and pluralistic identities and cultures are celebrated in a good and positive way.”