DUP in last-gasp bid to block Irish language signs at Belfast's Olympia leisure centre

The council had been due to make a final decision on the matter on Tuesday night, but DUP councillor Bradley Ferguson says before the meeting takes place the party will try to "call in" the decision.

This would effectively scupper Tuesday's debate and vote.

As the News Letter reported on September 20, the council's Strategic Policy and Resources Committee voted in favour of making the signs at the Olympia bilingual, against the DUP's objections.

The Olympia sits on the Boucher Road in south Belfast – a popular retail/industrial area on the edge of the loyalist-dominated Village neighbourhood.

But that vote on September 20 needs to be confirmed by a meeting of the full council, and this is due tomorrow.

Councillor Bradley says the DUP intends to fill in the paperwork for a call-in of the decision because of "the adverse effect it'd have on community relations".

That would take it off the agenda for Tuesday's meeting while external lawyers consider if the call-in has merit.

"It's on the basis that it's being forced upon people in a community which do not wish to see it," he said.

"And it's also taking Irish and putting it level with English and above other minority languages.

"More people speak Polish as speak Irish, and as many speak Romanian as speak Irish."

The call-in is "probably the final hurdle" in the way of the bilingual signs.

How long might the call-in process take?

"How long is a piece of string... there's no clear exact time-frame on it," he said, adding: "For a lot of ratepayers it is a significant issue, because you have to realise there's a cost involved in this."

For example, if-and-when the decision to erect Irish language signs goes ahead, councillor Ferguson believes even the giant sign reading "Olympia" on the front of the centre could be translated into a similar sign in Irish; online translators render 'olympia' as 'oilimpia' (at least when written in lower-case).

It is the latest development in a slow-burning row over the issue spanning years.

Approval had already been given for bilingual signs, but any action has been held up by unionist opposition to the plan.

An equality impact assessment was done into it, and councillors on Belfast City Council's Strategic Policy and Resources Committee met on September 20 to discuss that report, and take a new vote in light of its findings (including that, out of 579 of people who responded to a consultation, some 79% wanted bilingual signage).

Councillor Ian McLaughlin (DUP) had told the meeting on September 20 that there was not so much "fear" of the Irish language in his community as there was "hurt".

This is felt by "victims of horrendous terrorism whose only interaction with that language – whether people like it or whether they don't – was masked and hooded gunmen squealing this language at them after murdering one of their loved ones".