What’s in a name? Well, er, confusion...

THE Placenames Commission has washed its hands of responsibility for the erratic spelling of English-language locations around the country.

The quality controller for Irish-language versions has said it will not get involved in a centuries-old debate between the two main standard setters for English placenames.

A statement from the commission’s parent body, the Department of

Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs said “it has no role to play in the English language”.

It said the 61-year-old office only issues edicts as Gaeilge, and it will not choose between the versions used by An Post and others drawn from the 155-year-old Townland’s Index.

Disparity is even more glaring with hundreds of kilometres of new roads adopting one spelling and rural Post Offices using the other.

The latest conflict between the two appears on the Ennis bypass, where the town Ennistimon is spelt with a “i” rather than a “y”.

Now the National Roads Authority (NRA) has said it takes guidance from the Government and ultimately the Placenames commission. The commission does not agree.

However, the NRA’s position is reflected across all Government departments, which together defy the stance taken by An Post and, in most cases, the versions used by local people.

This is because the standard spellings used by departments are taken from the Townland’s Index, drawn up after the first Ordinance Survey exercise and subsequent census in 1851.

The Government’s position is clearly stated on the website of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: “The definitive legal placenames of the country are contained in the maps of Ordinance Survey Ireland which date back to the time of the original mapping and valuation of the country. These are deemed to be the legal placenames of the country.”

This influence can been seen in the geography records held in the departments of agriculture and environment where it lists towns like Ennistimon and Lehinch in Co Clare or Leenaun and Maum in Co Galway.

An Post breaks the mould. It has its own register going back to its predecessors in the British Empire.

It declares the towns as Ennistymon, Lahinch, Leenane and Maam respectively.

An Post spokeswoman Anna McHugh said it has a different policy for Irish and English spelling but its records predate living memory.

“For the Irish language we would have our own definitive book called the Eolaí an Phoist which has a list of all the placenames in Irish, the Government has a separate Gasaitéar na hÉireann which it takes its information from.

“In terms of the English language spelling it goes back further, back to the 17th century when there was the first staging posts and our spellings would be based on the records there was back then.

“You could probably spell some places six different ways and have somebody say you are right but we stick by what is in our records,” she said. Although the Government’s hardline stance goes against most indigenous versions without a definitive ruling from the commission the placenames puzzle is set to continue.

Dr Hugh Weir is a member of Co Clare’s Placenames Committee which is under the umbrella of the Commission.

He said the names have evolved over thousands of years and their meanings get distorted as new versions develop in both Irish and English.

He warned that the standardisation of Irish placenames is controversial even in localities where the English version is primarily used.

He maintains it is not possible to always hark back to old-Irish spellings because language changes all the time.

“I know it has caused some difficulties in some areas where you have concerned people painting over signs and putting their own version in and you can understand that.

“But if Irish is a living language then things are going to change and we have to accept that,” he said.