COUNCILLORS clashed at Belfast City Council on Thursday evening after the TUV and DUP criticised money prioritised over Irish language over poverty in the city.
The debate began after People Before Profit councillor Michael Collins expressed his anger over cuts to Belfast City Council's hardship fund.
TUV councillor Ron McDowell put the blame solely on decisions made related to Irish language.
"This Council was single-visioned on things like Irish street signs and an Irish language policy," he said. "That was the choice made and the budget doesn’t stretch and so, the hardship fund was cut."
DUP Alderman Dean McCullough took a similar view, stating that poverty and the hardship fund in the city should always be a priority over the Irish language.
"Politics is about priorities. Council has a set budget and is the responsibility of members in this chamber to allocate it," he said.
"The DUP’s priority is hardship. We did not support millions of pounds worth of Irish language signs in communities that do not need nor want them or logos on workers uniforms that neither need nor want them.
"The reality is that we could take the money from the flawed Irish language policy and feed children in this city instead.
"It is about poking your neighbour in the face. Our view is that if there is clear consensus for Irish street signs in some areas, we don’t oppose that.
"We are not anti-Irish anything but Irish language should not be forced on communities that don’t want them."
His comments drew anger from Alliance councillor Michael Long who hit out at Alderman McCullough in linking the two issues together.
"This is about funding for the hardship. It is factually inaccurate for someone to get up and link money for Irish language street signs to the hardship fund," he said.
"It is factually inaccurate and that needs to be challenged."
