Irish signage laws for State agencies
The proposed changes under the Official Languages Act 2003 will make it compulsory for all State agencies to include a degree of Irish in signs outside their buildings, announcements transmitted by telephone and on public address systems. In addition, notepaper, compliment slips and facsimile cover sheets must be in the Irish language or both English and Irish, with the Irish language appearing first and given the same prominence as the English language.
The proposed changes follows last week’s decision by Kerry county councillors to make an application for a Government order to change the placename of An Daingean in Co Kerry to the bilingual Dingle Daingean Uí Chúis.
Yesterday, the chairwoman of the committee which focuses on gaeltacht affairs, Cecilia Keaveney, said it was appropriate to be suggesting the changes in conjunction with the focus on improving the spoken language in schools.
“Irish should be seen and heard and not be hidden. It’s time to take Irish out of the closet,” she said.
“We often think of the French context. If French died out, it would still be spoken in Quebec. If it died out in Quebec, it would still be spoken in France. But if Irish ever died out, there is nowhere else where it would be spoken.”
Ms Keaveney said the proposed changes would ensure that it is not “abnormal” for people to read signs in Irish or listen to pre-recorded voice messages in Irish.
“We would like to think that all the State agencies will implement the changes as soon as possible and that the idea will expand out to others,” she said.
While other previous changes such as the changing of Dingle to Daingean proved controversial, Ms Keaveney said she did not expect any objection to the proposals which will be discussed by the committee on Wednesday. The main aim of the Official Languages Act 2003 is to ensure better availability and a higher standard of public services through Irish.
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