DUP opposition to dual language policy ‘not motivated by anti-Irish sentiment’

DUP leader Gavin Robinson has rejected any suggestion his party’s opposition to Belfast City Council’s new dual language policy is motivated by “anti-Irish” sentiment.

He said the policy was “wholly disproportionate” and would lead to the “squandering” of public money.

Unionist parties at Belfast City Hall are co-operating on a “call-in” mechanism within the council to force an official review of the decision taken at Wednesday night’s meeting.

The new draft policy aims to remove barriers to the use of the Irish language in public life, promote the learning of Irish, support the promotion of Irish through council facilities, programmes and events and take resolute action to promote and protect the Irish language across its own public-facing services.

It also includes a pledge for the council to adopt a dual-language approach to signage at all its facilities.

The policy comes with a two-year implementation plan and is expected to see a new identity and logo designed for use on vehicles and uniforms.

Around £1.9 million of funding has been initially earmarked for the measures.

The policy was passed with the support of Sinn Fein, the SDLP, Alliance, People Before Profit and the Green Party, while the DUP, UUP and TUV voted against it.

East Belfast MP Mr Robinson told reporters in Belfast on Thursday: “City Hall brought forward a proposal which is wholly disproportionate, which does not look to the ratepayers, what they want, the services and value for money.

“They want investment in their communities, not this process of the instigation and the provision of signage, which will do nothing for the citizens of Belfast, will not improve services one bit, and to do it in a way which takes no account of the unionist view in this city.”

He added: “The vast majority of people in this city speak English as their first and the vast majority of this city speak English as their only language.

“As members of this city, as a Belfast representative, I have no interest in suppressing somebody’s right to enjoy a second language or another language, but not at my cost, not at the cost of my constituents, not at the cost of ratepayers in Belfast who are crying out for investment in their services, and they see this squander at £1.9 million in the first instance, but it will grow and it will spread.

“So it’s right that it’s being called in, and it’s right that if this is going to happen that the legal processes around equality of opportunity, but also equality for staff that have no interest, are taken into account as well.”

Mr Robinson continued: “It’s not anti-Irish to talk about services in the city, to talk about good use of ratepayers’ money. If there was £1.9 million lying around as an underspend, as has been claimed, it should have been returned to the hard-pressed ratepayers of Belfast, rather than squandered on an unnecessary change of their corporate identity. It’s not necessary.

“It’s not anti-Irish (the DUP stance). Anybody that wants to engage in that language, anybody that wants to enjoy it, is free to do so in this city of ours, but they don’t need to impose it on others who have no interest.”

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Sinn Fein councillor Tomas O’Neill described the move as a “historic moment” that would deliver “one of the most progressive Irish language policies that we’ve seen on this island”.

“Thousands of people attend Irish language classes on a weekly basis and there are an estimated 50,000 across the city with varying degrees of Irish,” he said.

“The Irish language community here is thriving, it’s at the heart of our communities right across Belfast and we should be doing all we can to support that growth.”