Two thirds of incidents involving bilingual street signs being damaged in the past five years were recorded in Mid Ulster, according to a BBC report which caused great concern at a Mid Ulster Environment Committee meeting held in early December.
According to the report, 209 bilingual signs have been damaged in Mid Ulster since 2020, out of over 300 incidents recorded in the whole of Northern Ireland in the corresponding period.
Councillor John McNamee (Sinn Féin, Cookstown DEA) said he found the figures appalling: “I just want to reference the BBC report today in relation to the damage to over 300 dual language signs right across the North.
“Nearly two thirds of them are in Mid Ulster, and that’s from 2020, so that’s serious criminal damage happening in this area.
“I think we need to be sitting down with the police early in the New Year, because as far as I’m aware no one has ever been arrested or charged with any of this.
“If you look at the figures right across the different areas, it seems to be some sort of orchestrated campaign here.”
Councillor Clement Cuthbertson (DUP, Dungannon DEA) pointed out that some of the signs could have been damaged accidentally.
“We’ve heard reports like this before. Does this take in the signs that are damaged on nearly one in five roads and the rural country roads?” he asked.
“The nameplate signs, they’re all broke – maybe one in five – on each road. Is that all criminal damage, or is that accidental?
“It was so bad up around Clogher Valley, Dungannon rural areas, that we stopped putting signs up again.
“Where Dungannon legacy council would have had two signs up at the end of the road, it’s got to a stage now that if they’re broke, only one stays up. Some of them are just propped up and some of them are just leaning over, so there’s a lot of damage to sign and I’m not sure if that’s recorded in these figures.”
Councillor Mark Robinson (DUP, Clogher Valley DEA) pointed out that he had seen many instances of ‘Londonderry’ road signs being vandalised as well: “I noticed there, when coming down from Portrush during the summer time, quite a number of signs marked ‘Londonderry’ seem to be damaged as well.
“I’m sure Cllr McNamee would support the police investigating who’s doing that as well, scoring out ‘London’ out of ‘Londonderry’.”
Councillor Deirdre Varsani (Sinn Féin, Dungannon DEA) was also of the view that the damage was part of an orchestrated campaign, saying: “Obviously, we don’t encourage damage to any signs, but a figure of over 200 out of more than 300 dual-language signs across the North being damaged belonging to the Mid Ulster area, it should be a matter of shame to all of us, and each of us needs to really speak up and say this is absolutely not acceptable in our area.
“We are welcoming to all and we encourage everyone to take ownership of signage, etc.
“If there are other signs being damaged, for example by traffic accidents or whatever misbehaviour as well, then of course that’s important to look at, but what we’re talking about today is that there appears to be a specific campaign, particularly in the Mid Ulster area, targeting Irish-language signs with chainsaws, hacksaws, black paint, or whatever other colours of paint they’re using.
“So I do think it’s incumbent on all of us to speak up and make the Mid Ulster area more welcoming for a policy that has been in place for a long time, and has had time to bed in.”
Councillor James Burton (DUP, Dungannon DEA) felt strongly that the money used to erect bilingual signs should be spent on other things: “I think it’s important to highlight that not everyone in our community would want these signs.
“In terms of our public spending, I think we could make this money go to better things, like our recycling centres – the hours have been cut – or the grass that has not been as regularly cut because of cost constraints.”
Committee chair, Councillor Niall McAleer (Sinn Féin, Torrent DEA) took a different view, saying: “I would disagree with the characterisation that they’re a waste of money or anything like that.
“In my own local area, Sunnyside Road in Ardboe, the person who requested that [bilingual street sign] is a passionate Irish speaker. They want to see the language on their road, so I wouldn’t really say it’s a waste of money.”
Cllr McNamee wanted to make it clear that he condemned signage vandalism incidents right across the board, including when ‘Londonderry’ signs are involved: “Just in relation to Cllr Robinson saying that hopefully I call out these other things, I would call them out, but they’re DfI signs. I’m referring to our Council signs, and that’s why I highlighted it.
“And to Cllr Burton, this is Council policy, so if you want to change that you have to change the policy.”
Councillor Kevin McElvogue (Independent, Clogher Valley) described the vandalism incidents as “shocking”.
“Regarding the Irish signs, the people on the road have spoken for the signs, and they’ve been damaged left, right and centre, it’s shocking what is happening at the minute, and some of the sinister ones [have had] ‘UVF’ sprayed on them,” said Cllr McElvogue.
“So I definitely think they should be left alone. It’s costing money to fix them again.”
