It’s the result of a rules change that made it trivial to launch the process of building dual language signs, and loosened criteria for getting them passed in surveys of the public. The first decision under the new rules was made in March 2023. Since then, 228 streets have been signed off for Irish language signs by the council; over the 24 years the previous much tighter policy ran, 226 were approved. In addition, every single dual language sign approved under the new rules has been in Irish – though it’s known applications for other languages, ranging from Ulster Scots to Hebrew to Japanese, have been filed. Under the old policy, three Ulster Scots signs were built over 24 years. All other signs the council approved during that period were in Irish. Almost 1,000 requests for dual language signs covering more than 650 streets are still on the council’s waiting lists. The 228 streets approved for Irish signs over the last two years don’t include another 301 roads in the city’s Gaeltacht Quarter, which were handled under a different policy effectively stating they should be built all over that specific district. Current rules state that the process for dual language signs will be triggered if one or more residents of a street request them. Every Belfast councillor can also submit applications for roads within their district, whether or not householders have asked them to. Once a request has been filed, surveys go out asking any street residents on the electoral register whether they think dual language signs are a good idea; if at least 15% of those residents back the move, the signs will be built, even if the other 85% all come back saying they don’t want them. Under the old policy, which was in place from 1998 to 2022, at least one-third of a street had to petition for signs before an application would be considered. Unionists have been increasingly unhappy with the new and much looser rules, arguing the 15% threshold is far too low and that kickstarting the process with just a single anonymous request leaves the system open to bad actors seeking to manipulate it. Indeed, recent months have seen controversial decisions to hold surveys on Irish signs in staunchly unionist parts of south and east Belfast, even though the council’s own officials warned the very act of polling the populace in those areas could be enough to spark trouble. For example, plans have been launched that could see Irish signs plastered along an east Belfast road that contains the home of Ulster Rugby, Kingspan Stadium, and also runs past a loyalist housing estate. Busy Mount Merrion Avenue forms is on the edge of the Cregagh Estate, and local representatives fear that surveying the area will set back community work that’s been a major help over the past few years, especially around contentious messages relating to the estate’s annual July 11 bonfire. And the length of Upper Newtownards Road, a four-mile main route through heavily Unionist areas in the east of the city from Connswater to Ballyhackamore, is also to be polled despite warnings of unrest.