Queen's University students protest for Irish language signage in equality battle

Political weapon or a crucial part of the Irish cultural identity? The Irish language has long been the subject of heated debate - now students at Queen's University Belfast are taking action. A call for equality has erupted at on the back of a student protest on Wednesday April 7, in which campaigners advocated for Irish-language signs to be installed at the .

About 100 students gathered outside of the university gates for a protest led by the university’s Irish language group, Cumann Na Gaeilge, with demands for "more visibility" for the Irish language on campus. This included calls to install signage in Irish and English, ensuring that both languages were equally represented. However, the campaign was swiftly met with backlash from the university’s Young Unionists group, who claimed “there had been no effort to engage with unionist societies”.

In a statement released on social media late on April 7, the Young Unionists complained that the “initiative has effectively been sprung on us”. They proceeded to argue that the funds needed to implement such a move would be an unnecessary cost for the university.

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The protection of the Irish language is a pertinent issue in Northern Ireland. In 2025, a new Office of Identity and Cultural Expression was set up, with a competition launched to appoint a commissioner to "recognise, support, protect and enhance the development of the Irish language in Northern Ireland".

Despite this, the Irish language still doesn't have the same status as the Welsh language in Wales, for example. Under the 1993 Welsh Language Act, every public body providing services to the public had to prepare a scheme to lay out how they will provide their services in Welsh.

However, the Young Unionists argued that other issues, like providing free sanitary products, should take precedence. They said: “There are more pressing issues than cultural passion projects, such as the recent rollout of free period products across campuses."

The group also claimed that the Irish language signs would risk raising political tensions on campus. They stated that the Irish language has "historically been used as a political weapon" and claimed that it created "unease" among unionists. They continued to state that the university "should strive to be a neutral and shared space".

Responding to the claims made by the unionist group, An Cumann Gaelach told The Mirror: "QUB cannot be a neutral nor shared space as long as it remains a monolingual one and as long as Irish speakers continue to be marginalised. Queen’s University Belfast has a responsibility and obligation to promote an inclusive and diverse campus, one that is welcoming for Belfast’s thriving and ever-growing Irish language community".

Undoubtedly, the Irish language has a contentious history on the campus. In 1997, the students’ union removed bilingual English and Irish signs. This came after a warning from Northern Ireland’s Fair Employment Commission (FEC), which said that they were incompatible with a neutral working environment.

This occurred before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which was a peace treaty signed to bring an end to the sectarian violence which occurred during the so-called 'Troubles' conflict. The agreement stated that an all-island language body was to be set up to promote the Irish language, which led to the establishment of organisation.

Irish was made an official language in Northern Ireland in 2022. A 2021 found that over 228,000 people aged over three in the country spoke Irish to some degree.

However, a subsequent campaign for bilingual signage by the University’s Irish language society An Cumann Gaelach, failed in 2018. Seven years on, the issue has been reignited by the group, with backing from more than 1000 students.

Jack Mac Íomhair is a broadcaster for the Irish language radio station Raidio Failte and a former student of Queen’s University. He says: “At the end of the day it is about equality, obviously we've seen the statement by the Young Unionists at Queen's, and they throw out the old tropes of cost.” With regards to the Young Unionists claim that the signs would prevent the campus from being a neutral space, he adds: “How can a space be neutral and shared if there are English only signs?”

The UK has come under fire for its failure to uphold language equality in the region in the past. In 2024, the European Charter for the Protection Of Regional and Minority Languages called on the British government to adopt strategies to protect minority languages like Irish and Ulster Scots. This includes measures such as strengthening the teaching of minority languages.

A Queen's University spokesperson told The : "Queen's management team are keen to listen and engage on the issues that matter most to our student body and staff. Ahead of yesterday’s planned protest, the University’s leadership met with Young Unionists over their concerns, and also responded to the meeting request received on Tuesday 8 April from Cumann Gaelach, agreeing to meet with this group to discuss this important issue next week. We are keen to continue to work in partnership with all groups to explore the issues at hand.”