Bilingual road signs will put end to long-running Dingle name change saga

The long-running Dingle name change dispute is almost over, with bilingual road signs due to be erected by the National Roads Authority next month.

The names Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis will be on all signposts leading to the peninsula ahead of the beginning of the 2013 tourist season.

A campaign to have both the Irish and English versions of the name on signs began in 2004 — driven mainly by local tourism interests who claimed visitors were confused when only the Irish version appeared.

The campaign arose from a decision the same year by Éamon Ó Cuív, then Gaeltacht minister, to change the town’s name to An Daingean under the Official Languages Act.

There was angry reaction locally and, in a 2006 plebiscite, more than 90% of people voted in favour of the name Dingle/ Daingean Uí Chúis.

But they had to wait until Jul 2011 for the Oireachtas to pass legislation signing the bilingual name into law.

In recent years, campaigners from the Dingle area have been adding the English version of the name to signposts.

These “unofficial” signs — erected without permission — can still be seen on roads leading to Dingle from places such as Killarney and Tralee.

Yesterday, Séamus Cosaí Fitzgerald, Dingle area Fine Gael councillor, welcomed confirmation from the NRA that new signs will be erected prior to the start of the tourist season.

“It has been a long struggle, but the wishes of local people are, at last, being complied with,” he said. “There’s no doubt but that visitors, especially those from the US and Europe, were getting confused as they tried to make their way to Dingle, particularly those in hired cars.

“Everyone is now hoping the new signage will resolve the problem and that people will find it easier to get to Dingle.”