NEW statement from @belfastcc: Belfast City Council approves first ever Irish language policy Councillors have tonight approved an Irish language policy for the council.
Their decision, taken at this evening’s monthly meeting of Belfast City Council, follows a public consultation which ran from August to November 2024. The policy sets out how the council plans to promote and use Irish across its services, including interpreting and translation, key documents and publications, signage at facilities, on the council website belfastcity.gov.uk and within the council’s corporate identity, including its logo.

Throughout August and September, councillors on the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee reviewed feedback from the public consultation, which drew responses from residents, council staff, trade unions and members of the council’s Irish Language Stakeholder Forum.

Following this engagement, the committee agreed to adopt the policy proposals, and that there should be a single bilingual logo for the organisation – a move aligned with international best practice in promoting minority languages. Design work for the new identity and logo is ongoing, and further engagement will be undertaken with trade unions as part of this work.

Their decision was ratified at tonight’s full meeting of the council. 

Alongside the policy, councillors also agreed a high-level implementation plan to guide delivery of the policy over the next two years, with a focus on supporting staff and enhancing access to services in Irish. £1.9 million of funding was previously agreed, at July’s full council meeting, to implement the policy.

“This is a historic milestone for the Irish language in Belfast,” said Councillor Natasha Brennan, Chair of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.

“Our council is delivering an ambitious and groundbreaking policy which aims to promote, protect and celebrate the Irish language across the city.

“This policy represents a major step forward in fostering linguistic diversity, supporting cultural heritage and ensuring everyone who wishes to access our services in Irish is able to do so.

“We have committed £1.9 million to begin implementing the policy over the next two years, with regular updates being brought back to councillors, so we can see how access to our services and facilities, through Irish, is increasing over time.”

Welcoming the adoption of the new policy, Pól Deeds from Foras Na Gaeilge, incoming Irish Language Commissioner and a member of the council’s Irish Language Stakeholder Forum, said:

“Foras na Gaeilge commends Belfast City Council for developing this Irish language policy. The council is recognising, through this policy, the growth and spread of the Irish language community in the city, as well as every Irish speaker and learner in the city and those Irish speakers who visit here, be that as a tourist or those who are here to do business which contributes to our economy.   “This policy also provides an opportunity to reach out to the groups and people in our society who have felt, for one reason or another, that the Irish language was not relevant to them. This policy can be a tool to bring our community together, to celebrate our rich history and to share a more enriched life together in Belfast in the time to come.”

The Irish language policy is the first policy to be delivered through the council’s over-arching Language Strategy. The other strands are Ulster-Scots, sign language (British Sign Language and Irish Sign Language), communicating with those with disabilities and minority ethnic communities.

Further programmes of work, focusing on these languages, are also underway. Like the Irish language policy, these programmes will be shaped through engagement with language groups, so they are based on the specific needs of that particular community.