I read that a resident from Woodside Close, just off the Garvaghy Road, Irish Hagan, has won a Judicial Review case, (a JR IS where a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision, action, or failure to act by a public body. It focuses on whether the correct legal process was followed), against Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council over their refusal to erect Irish language signage in the street despite the criteria under ABC Council being met.
The refusal of the case despite meeting the criteria pricked my curiosity and as far as I can see, it began back in 2023 when the nine residents of the (presumably adjacent) Woodside Gardens lodged an application for Irish street signage with the Council:
For the petition to be accepted by the council, it must be representative of “not less than one-third of all occupiers of premises in the street for which the application is made.”
In this case, all nine of the respondents were in favour.
Similarly, with stage 2, the council canvassed, by post, all occupiers of premises on the relevant street to seek their views on the application, and the required threshold was met
With the area’s MP, Carla Lockhart, objecting:
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart, speaking at Tuesday night’s planning committee, said she was representing organisations and groups, “all of whom are utterly opposed to this application.” [….]
Carla then went on to make the argument that the ‘area had been ‘cleansed of Protestantism’ and that there’s a public park ‘60-odd metres from where the proposed signs would be placed’ and that ‘such signs would intimidate and create a no-go area for the small number of Protestants who live in this area’
Jump back to 2025 with the sign for Woodside Gardens being approved by the Council and the article reading:
A third application for a dual language sign at Woodside Hill has been rejected by the council despite residents voting in favour and officials recommending approval
https://www.dearg.ie/en/nuacht/cartlann/102321-historic-day
We then jump forward to last month where, despite the council’s dual language policy of the threshold of two thirds of street residents having to agree to bilingual signage being fulfilled, the application was rejected by ABC Council councillors in a partially closed session.
Now, in terms of council criteria, Belfast City Council’s criteria, (my understanding is that it comes from a UN recommendation), of 15% of a street’s residents to be in agreement for bi lingual signs has come in for criticism from unionists in general and from the DUP in particular it seems to me that the DUP are engaging in incredibly inconsistent cakeism with the ABC Council criteria, which requires an initial petition from 33% of residents to initiate a bilingual street sign request, followed by a postal survey showing at least 66% support. Likewise I can’t help but notice the similarities in Carla’s argument that street signage would be close to a public park and that of the objections to Scoil na Seolta, the integrated Irish language medium nursery school in East Belfast, being close to Ballyduff housing estate.
Hughie Beag is a West Belfast native and recovering legal scholar who spends lots of time in his spouse’s native Basque Country
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