Dingle renaming exposes legal loophole

THE controversy about renaming Dingle as An Daingean has thrown the local legal system into chaos.

Amid claims by the town's business people the name change has caused wholesale confusion for visitors, proceedings at the local court ground to a halt on Friday over the change of name.

Legal experts were lost for a definitive answer on whether they were legally in Dingle or An Daingean. The Court Services Act, which came into force on March 28, insists all placenames in Gaeltacht areas must be written in Irish.

A question mark stands over the validity of summonses and charge sheets due to be heard by the court, which had been amended to read 'An Daingean' and not 'Dingle'.

Gardaí in the town recently received instructions to replace Dingle with An Daingean when writing out summonses and charge sheets.

Judge James O'Connor adjourned the cases until October when a doubt arose over the legal designation of the town.

A garda source said in the past few weeks all summonses and charge sheets were amended to replace Dingle with An Daingean. These amendments were then co-signed by the District Court office to verify the amendments.

However, when these amended summonses were brought before the court on Friday, Judge O'Connor decided to adjourn them for further information.

The change of name has also thrown into doubt the legality of documents stamped at the local garda station.

All documents, such as applications for passports, signed in the garda station are stamped with the third local name of the town, Daingean Ui Chuis.

"But officially Daingean Ui Chuise does not exist. So how can the stamped documents stand up?" asked one confused garda.

Criminal lawyer Ted McCarthy last night said it may be an issue which will ultimately have to be resolved in the High Court.

"The higher court may have to decide if the court area is that of Dingle or An Daingean or Daingean Ui Chuis.

"It seems a very technical matter and it would be hard to see a court throw out a case on the basis of whether the summons should refer to Dingle or An Daingean, as it is not a substantial issue. But it is a technicality which may have to go to the higher court," Mr McCarthy said.