Published Friday, 16 December 2011
A motion supporting the sign was passed at council by a majority vote, with the backing of Sinn Féin, the SDLP, and the Alliance Party.
"It's a great sentiment of peace and goodwill to all people of Belfast in Irish for the first time," Sinn Fein councillor Máirtín Ó Muilleoir said.
The sign - which reads Merry Christmas To You in Irish - has been provided by the Irish language arts and culture centre An Chultúrlann in west Belfast, so there is no cost to ratepayers.
But the DUP, Ulster Unionists and the PUP have already released a combined statement against the sign and claiming the vote was "in clear breach of the prior agreement that such issues were to be discussed by the all-party group".
After the motion was passed earlier this month, the UUP's David Browne - who referred to Irish as "gobbledegook" at the council meeting - told UTV he didn't understand the decision.
"I look at the language in the same way as I look at Ulster Scots," he said.
"It's a foreign language like French, German or whatever and if people want to learn how to speak it or want to practice it - they should pay for it."