A dispute over how Belfast City Council counts support for Irish language street signs has emerged, with Sinn Féin arguing that only survey respondents should be considered, a change that would see signs erected on streets where support falls well below the current threshold.

Under existing policy, at least 15% of a street's residents must indicate support for a dual language sign application to proceed. Applications that do not meet this threshold are rejected.

Sinn Féin's council group leader Ciaran Beattie told a recent meeting that the policy is being misinterpreted. He said politicians are wrong to calculate percentages based on total households, and that non-responses should be excluded. In that scenario, many streets would show 100% support because only those who reply would be counted.

Five street sign applications were set for rejection at a council committee meeting because they fell short of the 15% threshold. Among them is Willowfield Gardens in east Belfast, where 8.7% of residents support Irish signs and 44.9% oppose them. Using Sinn Féin's approach, the support rate would be calculated as 15.7%, pushing it over the line.

In nationalist west Belfast, Caffrey Avenue had only 24 replies from 162 households, and Glenwood View had 7 replies from 54. All respondents supported Irish signs. Mr Beattie said such cases show that where replies are unanimous, the council should proceed, and he called for councillors and officials to be better informed about the policy.

Sinn Féin has already advanced some sign applications in streets where the 15% threshold was not reached, a move that has drawn criticism.