NEWRY, Mourne and Down Council has spent almost £5,000 on repairing damaged bilingual signs across the district.
It is the highest spend of any of the Province’s 11 councils new figures published recently have revealed.
The local council — formed as result of the merger of Newry and Mourne and Down councils – spent a total of £4,950 on repairing 24 vandalised signs. The total amount spent by three other councils was just over £3,000.
Both English and Irish are used on signage by several local authorities, but the displays have been a regular target for vandals over the years.
New figures compiled by the Irish News reveal that a total of 58 bilingual signs were vandalised since 2015 across four councils, costing £8,188 in repairs and replacement signage.
Many signs were defaced with paint and graffiti, others were sliced and torn down, with some were even damaged with a blow torch.
Alongside Newry, Mourne and Down, the other worst affected area was Mid Ulster District Council 27 signs were vandalised at a cost of £2,878.
Fermanagh and Omagh Council spent £260 repairing five signs, while Derry City and Strabane Council recorded two damaged signs which cost £100 to rectify.