Irish speakers ‘thrown under a bus’ as new station opened

The opening of a £340 million train and bus station in Belfast has been marred by anger over a virtual banning of the Irish language.

Anger at a broad reneging of commitments to defend Ireland’s native language, not a word of Irish appears in signage throughout the new ‘Grand Central Station’.

Translink has said only that Irish will be among the languages used on “multi-lingual” welcome signage in the future.

The Six County infrastructure minister, Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd, dodged questions over the controversy at the official opening of the city’s brand new transport hub.

He said that talks around signage are “continuing” with Translink, the state-run public transport corporation in the North of Ireland, but insisted the official opening of the glass structure is a “proud moment for this society”.

He said he is disappointed that agreement has not yet been reached around Irish language signage in the station but expressed confidence that it will be.

“It’s important that the Irish language is visible,” he said. “Belfast has a thriving Irish language community so it’s important that we have the visibility of the language. I’m working with Translink on that and I am confident that we will find a resolution. As a Minister I have to use my powers wisely.”

An Irish language group, An Dream Dearg, criticised the move saying dual-language signage has been excluded from the “new multi-million monolingual monolith”.

Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin said they are “incredibly disappointed” with the station.

“This is not just a transport hub for Belfast, it is a transport hub for people from right across the island of Ireland and it’s important that it’s reflective of where we are as a city,” he said.

But Irish speakers believe the refusal to allow Irish language at the station is symptomatic of a wider problem. Despite celebrations two years ago, a long-promised Irish language act has so far failed to translate into significant progress for the rights of Irish speakers.

There was “no reference whatsoever” to Irish language in the Six County programme for government announced last week, a fact which Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish language board, described as ‘scandalous and disgraceful’.

The Irish language advocacy group said it is ‘incredibly disappointing’ hat among the 88 pages of the document, no mention of an Irish language act, strategy or the promised new Irish language commissioner is made.

“We know that these issues would have been raised during the drafting processes, so there has clearly been a consensus to proceed without any reference to the language,” said Conchúr Ó Muadaigh, advocacy manager for Conradh na Gaeilge,

“We have been here before and we know that as a community we will have to fight back.

“We are raising these questions directly with the First and Deputy First Ministers and we hope to achieve significant changes to this programme for government during the consultation period.”

He added: “We want an equal society where Irish language rights are respected and prioritised, as was promised time and time again.

“It is clear we have to go and demand that change for ourselves.”

Urgent Appeal