SDLP complains over lack of Irish road signs

The British government has been accused of breaching the Belfast Agreement by refusing to allow road signs to be erected in the…

The British government has been accused of breaching the Belfast Agreement by refusing to allow road signs to be erected in the Irish language in Northern Ireland.

SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said he had written to the EU Commissioner with responsibility for multilingualism, Ján Figel, asking him to investigate the failure of the British government to provide for bilingual road signs.

Mr McGlone said the government was responsible for "disgraceful discrimination". "The Department of Regional Development, Roads Service and the British Government continue to wilfully discriminate against the Irish language," Mr McGlone claimed.

"They repeatedly refuse to give permission for Irish road signs to be erected. This is in breach of not only the Good Friday Agreement but also the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

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"Despite the clear wishes of the community, roads service repeatedly blocks any attempts to put bilingual signs up. This should be of particular interest to the EU, especially when it is EU funding which is being used in many of the projects," he said.