DUP Alderman calls for placenames origin social media posts to be 50:50 Irish and Ulster Scots despite only 0.3% deriving from Scots
DUP alderman Niree McMorris has claimed that a new council social media campaign, which will predominantly highlight the Irish Language origins of place names within Derry City and Strabane, is not “fair and inclusive”.
Members of September’s Governance and Strategic Planning Committee meeting voted in favour of a new campaign where 90 percent of social media posts will highlight Irish-derived place names, while 10 percent will highlight Ulster Scots.
In May, Sinn Féin councillor Caroline Devine successfully proposed a council-run, ‘Know Your Place’ social media campaign to promote the Irish Language names of townlands and streets across the city and district. The proposal was amended to include council areas whose names were derived from Ulster Scots.
During July’s Governance and Strategic Planning Committee meeting, some members enquired about an even number of social media posts for both Irish and Ulster Scots place names. In response a report was presented which noted that, according to the National Placenames Database of Ireland, the vast majority, 90 percent, of Ireland’s geographical names are of Irish language origin.
In the Derry and Strabane Council area, 78 percent of the 946 townlands have a suggested language origin of Irish, while only three townlands (0.3%) are Scots in origin and 12.6 percent are ‘unverified’. 34 percent of of the district’s street and road names are derived from Irish, while only 0.2 percent are derived from Ulster Scots.
Members were asked to approve one of two options: a social media campaign based on a 50-50 split between Irish and Ulster Scots content, or one based on 90 percent Irish content and ten percent Ulster Scots content.
The campaign, which will run from September for one year and then be returned to members for review, will highlight a different place name in each social media post, detailing its origin and what each part of the name means.
Sinn Féin councillor Brian Harte proposed adoption of the 90 percent Irish, 10 percent Ulster Scots option as it was reflective of the number of Irish and Ulster Scots townlands in the district. However, alderman McMorris argued that the 50-50 option was the only “fair and inclusive way” to provide representation of both languages.
“Whilst there’s more prevalence [of] the Irish Language, I think that we can come up with a solution where we’re interpreting street names or whatever within the the Ulster Scots language,” she added. “We want to protect these minority languages, so I think it’s only fair that they would have equal exposure and therefore we will be going down the line of the of 50-50 representation.”
Sinn Féin Councillor Christopher Jackson seconded Councillor Harte’s proposal and said the campaign’s intention was to educate “around the meaning of our place names”.
Councillor Jackson said:
“This wasn’t about ‘one for you, one for me’, it’s ridiculous that it has ended up in this way. It isn’t about the promotion of the language, it’s about a promotion of the meaning behind our townlands.
“We are not seriously talking about creating new translations. It’s an educational piece around the origin of our townlands, and to insist that Ulster Scots is included where it never has been in the past is actually doing a disservice to the strong Ulster Scots tradition that exists within our council area.
“If there are any of our townlands that originated from an Ulster Scots dialect then by all means, but to insist that it’s 50-50 to suit a political party is ridiculous.”
UUP alderman and Committee Chair, Derek Hussey, agreed with councillor Jackson and concluded: “This is a series of explanations of what the name actually means and where it comes from is immaterial."