Students at Queen's University in Belfast have voted by a large majority to have Irish-language signs reinstated in the students' union building. In a referendum at the university yesterday, students voted to reverse a decision taken by the Students' Union executive committee in August to take down bilingual signs in English and Irish throughout the building. The referendum was passed by 1,882 to 613 votes.
The students' union president, Mr Cormac Bakewell, said the decision to remove the signs was taken on advice from the Fair Employment Commission, a student working group and an independent consultant. It was felt that the Irish-language signs were discouraging Protestants from using the students' union.
Unionist groups in the university last week called for a boycott of the poll, but yesterday's turnout was regarded as high. A similar number of the 16,000-strong student body voted in a referendum on tuition fees last year.