{"id":598363,"date":"2026-07-22T10:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/598363\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T10:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:07:18","slug":"northern-irelands-first-irish-english-road-traffic-signs-installed-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/598363\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland\u2019s first Irish-English road traffic signs installed \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first bilingual<\/a> road traffic signs in Northern Ireland have been installed along west Belfast\u2019s<\/a> Falls Road.<\/p>\n

The Irish-English signage<\/a> and road markings, covering bus lanes and parking information, have been placed on a stretch of the Falls Road between the Springfield Road and Whiterock Road, with implementation continuing over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The pilot scheme was announced by the Department for Infrastructure on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if the bilingual road signs will now be installed in other areas or what the criteria for installation are.<\/p>\n

\"Tyrone<\/a>\"DUP<\/a><\/p>\n

Irish Language Commissioner P\u00f3l Deeds welcomed the scheme and said he hoped the scheme would be extended.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am delighted to see this important scheme being rolled out in the Gaeltacht Quarter,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative recognises and supports the vibrant Irish-speaking community in west Belfast, and I hope it will be extended in the future in line with the Best Practice Standards currently being developed by my Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe duty placed on our public authorities through legislation, alongside existing government commitments to support the growth of the Irish language, has a vital role to play in language planning and protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department for Infrastructure\u2019s commitment to this initiative strengthens my determination to support public authorities in their efforts to make Northern Ireland a place where the Irish language can thrive as an important part of our unique cultural heritage and wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew bilingual Irish-English road signage is erected on the Falls Road in west Belfast. PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN <\/p>\n

Campaigners have now called for the scheme to be extended beyond the pilot area to the wider Gaeltacht Quarter.<\/p>\n

Forbairt Feirste project manager Piarais Mac Alastair said: \u201cThe introduction of bilingual road traffic signs is an important and positive development for the Gaeltacht Quarter and for the wider Irish-speaking community. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe now call on the Minister and the Department to extend this Road Traffic pilot to the wider Gaeltacht Quarter that has recently been recognised by Belfast City Council.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department for Infrastructure commented: \u201cThis is a pilot initiative specifically for the West Belfast Gaeltacht Quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first bilingual road traffic signs in Northern Ireland have been installed along west Belfast\u2019s Falls Road. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,36456,11,12,15,16,5,22234,7,8,15497,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-598363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-irish","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-signs","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-west-belfast","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116963080290967550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}