Belfast City Council is considering a request to put dual-language signs along the length of Mount Merrion Avenue, the busy main route to the home of Ulster Rugby that thousands of sports fanatics walk or drive along regularly on their way to matches. And it also marks one edge of staunchly unionist working-class Cregagh Estate, with a DUP councillor already voicing fears that even polling that area about the idea of building Irish signs could spark trouble and set back community work that’s helped with “good relations”, especially around contentious messages relating to the estate’s annual July 11 bonfire. Indeed, the council’s own officials have warned that the act of carrying out surveys on dual-language signs could by itself “give rise to community tension”. Though those officials add that building Irish language signs on the edge of Cregagh Estate, as well as other nearby streets, could “assist in promoting cultural and linguistic diversity”. Mount Merrion Avenue runs for three-quarters of a mile; under council rules, a single person living there asking for Irish language signs is enough to trigger the survey process – and just 15% of households surveyed being in favour is all that’s needed to actually build them. It’s one of a number of requests for Irish language signs that have come in for streets in a very unionist part of East Belfast, around Cregagh Road and Castlereagh Road. Tonight (8th) a council committee is to decide whether or not to poll residents of the area, but DUP councillor Davy Douglas has already pushed them to reject the idea of surveying Mount Merrion Avenue. Lodging an official objection, he stated: “Mount Merrion is a mixed area bisecting the Cregagh estate and Flush Park, both traditional unionist areas. "There have been issues in the area in recent years around messaging and posters on the Cregagh bonfire, election posters being stolen etc; however, a lot of progress has been made in the past couple of years. "I feel that the adoption of Irish street signage could be seen as divisive and have an adverse impact on good relations within the community, undoing some of the progress that has been made to date. I would therefore ask that the council exercise its discretion not to apply its policy at this location.” Nearby East Belfast streets also being considered for Irish language sign surveys include Loopland Drive, Lismain Street, Onslow Gardens and Isoline Street – the latter of which has received objections from a different DUP councillor, as the next road over is a regular band parade route. “The neighbouring street, Clara Street, is used as a loyalist parade route throughout the year,” stated councillor Ruth Brooks. “The introduction of street signs in Irish within this area will be interpreted as political and culturally insensitive, and antagonistic.” Adding that only 8% of people in the district claim some ability in Irish while 11% claim ability in Ulster Scots, she stated: “The implementation of Irish in an area that has no natural ties with the language, but strong loyalist ties, will be seen to contravene [equality and good relations] obligations and heighten tensions.”