Murphy must do more to stop Irish stickers defacing Road Signs - Donaldson
Kenny Donaldson, an Ulster Unionist Party Officer today said more needed to be done to prevent a spate of Irish language stickers that have appeared on road signs initially in Newry and Mourne but have now spread to parts of Tyrone and Fermanagh. The large stickers simply state ‘GAELIGE’.
Mr Donaldson has already made representations to DRD Minister Conor Murphy who condemned the move and said that those pushing for bi-lingualism should do so via councils.
In a statement Kenny said: “With more and more of these stickers being plastered across road signs the Minister must do more to stamp out this growing trend and use the law if necessary to prevent it happening.
“I am not opposed to the use of the Irish Language by those who wish to speak it but imposing it in this manner is foolish, dangerous and is defacing public property.
“The emergency services navigating in the area need full visibility to road signs and place names; it helps no-one if a huge sticker is covering the name place of somewhere they are supposed to go to in an emergency. In addition the stickering merely adds to the confusion of the growing number of migrant workers, many of whom have difficulty enough finding their way around in the English language due to the language barrier.
“Lastly the stickering is a defacement of public property and is increasingly becoming perceived as antagonistic.
“I am calling on Minister Murphy to do more to nip this growing trend in the bud now. He has the ear of the nationalist community in a way most unionist politicians do not. It is time for some responsible leadership on this issue.”