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leagan ciorrruithe d'alt a bhí ar an Mid Ulster Mail le déanaí.

ULSTER Unionist councillor George Shiels raised the issue of road nameplates in Irish at Tuesday night's monthly meeting of Magherafelt District Council.
He gave his opinion that the Protestant minority community, especially those living in some housing estates, felt intimidated by these signs and were anxious as to their safety.
He said: “I believe there are equality issues to be considered before this council continues with the present policy concerning erection of nameplates in Irish.
“An anomaly with the present procedures came to my attention this week when I received representations from residents of the village of Knockloughrim.
“Villagers were suddenly aware of a bilingual sign which had been erected adjacent to the village crossroads on Quarry Road.
“They find a nameplate in Irish threatening and sinister. Why put it there, in the village of Knockloughrim, a village where Protestants predominate? Was it put there to inflame community tensions? To cause offence? To upset the delicate balance of community relations?
“The sign at the Knockloughrim end of Quarry Road has since disappeared. Perhaps it was metal fatigue, or maybe it was eaten away by micro-organisms, in any case this is another cost to the ratepayers of Magherafelt District, a cost incurred by erecting signs in a language that almost no-one can read or comprehend.
“It would make more sense to have signs in Polish where the evidence points to substantial loss of life on our roads, of members of the eastern European community.”
Continuing, Mr Shiels said: “If responsibility for roads comes back to councils after the Review of Public Administration, then Sinn Fein are set to systematically pollute our towns and villages with a plethora of bilingual direction signs leading to confusion and an increase in traffic accidents. You only have to look at the situation in the Republic of Ireland where some of the village streets resemble Times Square.”
Mr Shiels said members of the Protestant minority community were living in fear, “One resident - whose address I won’t identify - told me she now locks her back door, something she hasn’t done for years.
“She told me she sees no reason why her neighbours would want dual signs if not to intimidate the few Protestant neighbours.
“She said, ‘If you’re a Protestant living in a majority Nationalist area the message is clearly to get out. If you’re a Protestant thinking of moving to a majority Nationalist area the message is - Stay Out.”

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