Defacement of ‘Londonderry’ signs raised after anti-Irish language vandals take angle-grinder to Belfast street sign

Transcript

00:00The attacks on the Irish street sign at Shandon Park on Saturday was wrong and

00:06should be condemned. I say that Mr. Speaker without fear or favour because

00:13Mr. Speaker I believe attacks on all signs and all criminality should be

00:18called out at all times. I may be able to say that Mr. Speaker but other elements

00:25of this House and indeed the media seem not to want to say the same thing. They

00:32pretend it does not happen and ignore it when it doesn't fit their narrow agenda.

00:37Just in last week's podcast the former Member of Parliament for Fermanagh

00:43South Tyrone with a straight face claimed that she had never seen the blacking out

00:48of Londonderry on a Londonderry sign. Madam Deputy Princess Speaker would the member

00:53condemn the defacing of Londonderry signs and would he support people being

00:58arrested for that offence by the PSNI? Yes or no? Well you as a police officer

01:06should be able to tell us whether the police carried out any investigations

01:10into that or not. So I'm here I'm here to talk about Irish street signs, Irish

01:18language and dual language signage. I've asked you before and you as well, Timothy and others

01:30not to be shouting at people from a statutory position. Everybody has a right to be heard.

01:34It doesn't look like what's being said. It's just common courtesy. When it comes to the Irish

01:39language it is something that's part of us all whether we like it or not. You just

01:43mentioned your DEA name. Listen to Sarah. Where does that come from? Shandon Park. If it was

01:49translated into the English language it would be Old Fort Park. You know at a certain point,

01:53Madam Deputy Deputy Speaker, we do have to be honest with ourselves and honest with the people

01:57who represent us. I am not suggesting that absolutely everybody in English communities

02:01is thrilled about Irish language signs. First of all these are dual language signs. Secondly there

02:09are many people in those communities who are open-minded about the language, who do want to

02:13learn more about it. Why not, just for change, rather than reinforcing people's worst fears,

02:19why not say to them, no I don't have time, why not say to them you don't have to be afraid. We can

02:23build something together in this place. It doesn't always have to be zero sum. That's what I say to my

02:28constituents when I talk about a New Ireland. I say flags and British cultural expression are at the

02:33heart of my vision for a New Ireland. Would that all of you were a little bit more optimistic and

02:38hopeful for the people you claim to represent? Given the outrage over alleged damage to Irish

02:43language signs, I look forward to the wall-to-wall coverage when the next Welcome to Northern Ireland

02:50or London Derry signs are defaced.