Irish Language Road Signs Bill

Order, order!

A BILL TO

Provide for bilingual road signage on northern Irish highways.

BE IT ENACTED by being passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly and assented to by Her Majesty as follows:

Section 1: Repeals

(1) The Road Signs An Gaelige Act 2018 is repealed in its entirety.

Section 2: Signage

(1) Road signs that are

(a) maintained by Transport NI, and

(b) are intended for the purpose of navigation to an inhabited place,

are required to contain place names in both the Irish and English languages.

(2) 2(1) only applies to signs erected after this Act comes into effect.

Section 3: Requirement of planning and costing:

(1) The Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure must produce a report within twelve months of this bill coming into effect.

(2) This report must contain:

(a) details of road signs that must be converted into dual language signs,

(b) a timeframe in which road signs will be converted into dual language signs, on a county-by-county basis,

(c) worked-out costings for the introduction of dual language signs across Northern Ireland.

Section 4: Interpretations

(1) For the purposes of this Act, "Transport NI" refers to the executive agency of the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure in charge of highway and road maintenance, as well as any other transport-centric bodies within the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, "dual language signs" refer to signs on which Irish and English translations are both provided.

Section 5: Extent, commencement, and short title

(1) This Act extends to all of Northern Ireland.

(2) Section 3 of this Act will come into effect immediately after Royal Assent.

(a) The remainder of this Act will come into effect after--

(i) the relevant Department fulfils their obligation under Section 3, and

(ii) the Northern Ireland Assembly approves the costings presented under Section 3."

(3) This Act may be cited as the “Irish Language Road Signs Act 2019”.

This Bill was written and submitted by u/KernowRydhon behalf of Gluaiseacht an Phobail, with amendments passed by /u/Trevism, the Member for West Tyrone.

This vote will end on the 22nd of July 2019 at 10pm.