Northern Ireland

Almost 100 attacks on Irish language signs in Mid Ulster in two years

An Irish language sign at Gulladuff in Co Derry has been attacked 12 times this year. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
An Irish language sign at Gulladuff in Co Derry has been attacked 12 times this year. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin An Irish language sign at Gulladuff in Co Derry has been attacked 12 times this year. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
By Connla Young

THERE have been almost 100 attacks on Irish language signs in the Mid Ulster council area in two years - with CCTV erected at one sign targeted 12 times in recent months.

Councillors are to hold a meeting with the PSNI to discuss the campaign of vandalism.

The council last night confirmed that from June 2017 to mid-October this year there have been 93 “incidences of vandalism” involving dual language signs.

Sinn Féin councillor John McNamee, who sits on its environment committee, said the damage is "costing tens of thousands to the ratepayers".

He said police will attend a specially arranged meeting with committee members in Cookstown next week.

“One of the key outcomes of this meeting will be to get the police to deal with this,” he said.

“The ratepayers are paying for it.”

A council spokeswoman revealed that one dual language sign near the village of Gulladuff in Co Derry has been damaged 12 times since February.

It is understood signs have been defaced and pulled from the ground.

A CCTV camera has been installed at Gulladuff Hill in Co Derry where a dual language sign has been attacked 12 times this year. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
A CCTV camera has been installed at Gulladuff Hill in Co Derry where a dual language sign has been attacked 12 times this year. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin A CCTV camera has been installed at Gulladuff Hill in Co Derry where a dual language sign has been attacked 12 times this year. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin

Earlier this year The Irish News reported how household rubbish was also dumped beside a sign.

A camera has since been put up in the area in a bid to catch the culprits.

The council spokeswoman confirmed that CCTV was erected temporarily at Gulladuff Hill, “a site which had experienced illegal dumping as well as repeated damage to a street sign".

“However, the monitoring produced no results,” she said.

A vandalised sign at Gulladuff Hill earlier this year
A vandalised sign at Gulladuff Hill earlier this year A vandalised sign at Gulladuff Hill earlier this year

UUP councillor Trevor Wilson last night said “it’s important to attend this meeting to find out exactly the extent of this across the whole district”.

He raised concerns about other signs being targeted, including road signs bearing the name ‘Londonderry’, and claimed that Irish language signs had been put up on council-owned facilities in mainly unionist areas.

“I do condemn all acts of vandalism but to put dual language signs in Protestant areas where signs were never erected before, even in English, is antagonising at the least,” he said.

William Lennox from the British Truth Forum, which has in the past criticised council action over flags and bonfires, also claimed "they have brought it on themselves".

"I don't see why they need a special camera to look after road signs."

A spokeswoman for police said: "PSNI can confirm that local officers have accepted an invitation to a meeting organised by Mid Ulster council next week."