Published Friday, 02 December 2011
A motion regarding the festive sign, which says Nollaig Shona Duit, was passed by a majority vote at Thursday night's monthly meeting.
Sinn Féin said that ratepayers will not have to pay for the sign as it is being donated by the west Belfast based Irish language arts and culture centre, An Chultúrlann.
However, Unionists are not happy with the decision.
Sinn Féin Councillor Jim McVeigh told UTV that it was "a fantastic development."
He said: "It's a great Nollaig Shona for the Irish language community to decide to have a sign over the City Hall and, indeed, for inclusiveness for the whole of the city."
Cllr McVeigh said the motion had been passed by "a majority vote", with the backing of the SDLP and Alliance.
He said that objections by Unionists were "sour grapes."
He was referring to furore which erupted after the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor's Niall Ó Donnghaile decision not to present an army cadet with a Duke of Edinburgh award.
The mayor has since apologised for stepping aside during the service on Monday, after learning the award recipient was in the Cadet Force.
He said he did not intend to cause any offence and has offered to meet the 15-year-old girl and her family.
But a protest was held outside Belfast City Hall on Thursday night, with members of the crowd calling for his resignation.
UUP Councillor David Browne, who referred to the language as gobbledegook at the council meeting, said he was "very disappointed" at the decision.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand it," he told UTV, adding that he didn't care how much is spent on the language as long as it wasn't paid for by the ratepayers of the city.
"I look at the language in the same way as I look at Ulster Scots. It's a foreign language as such 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."
He said Sinn Féin, supported by the Alliance party, took the opportunity to push the motion through and Unionists were "outvoted."
Cllr Browne said last month a decision had been taken not to go ahead with the erection of the sign.
He said Unionists had walked out of a meeting on Friday to develop a Diversity policy for Belfast City Council, due to the latest development.
In a combined statement, the DUP, UUP and PUP groups of Belfast City Council said the Christmas sign vote was "in clear breach of the prior agreement that such issues were to be discussed by the all-party group."