Minister O’Dowd is ‘confident’ that the dispute over Irish signage at Grand Central ‘can be resolved’

INFRASTRUCTURE Minister John O’Dowd is “confident” that the dispute over Irish language signage at Belfast’s new Grand Central Station “can be resolved”.
The new £340 million transport hub opened on Sunday as buses and vans began operating at Ireland’s largest transport facility. Trains are also expected to run from eight platforms in the near future.
However, the failure to install bilingual signage has angered Irish language campaigners who had previously met with Minister O’Dowd to discuss the matter.

Following concerns raised by Irish language groups last week, Translink said it “continues to engage with all stakeholders regarding multilingual signage at Belfast Grand Central Station for the official opening in autumn 2025”.

He added: “Recognising the diversity of languages ​​and cultures in our society, Irish will feature, as well as a range of other languages ​​spoken in Northern Ireland, as part of the multilingual welcome signage that will be in place for the operational opening of the station for bus services on Sunday 8 September 2024.”

Today, a Department of Infrastructure spokesperson told Andersonstown News: “Minister O’Dowd is committed to the visibility and promotion of the Irish language in public services and in our society.
“He continues to engage with Translink regarding Irish language signage at Grand Central Station and is confident the matter can be resolved.”
Previously, Cuisle Nic Liam from Conradh na Gaelige spoke about the group’s frustration with the lack of bilingual signage.

“Since 2021, we have consistently called on Translink and engaged with them to ensure that Translink would make the hub an inclusive and shared place across the island and city for everyone. We wanted the hub to reflect Belfast and the growing number of people here who are choosing to live their lives through Irish.”

“We contacted Translink on several occasions to seek meetings and when that was unsuccessful we contacted Minister John O’Dowd when he took office. Previously, when Stormont was not functioning, they used that as an excuse to delay making a decision, but when we met John O’Dowd he was very supportive and the meeting went very positively.”

In April this year, Belfast City Council also wrote to Translink to request that bilingual signage be included on the new building.