Council vows to rectify ‘meaningless’ Irish name of estate

Embarrassing 'botún' in Dingle became talking point during Seachtain na Gaeilge

Rows over the use of Irish names in Dingle have arisen before. Picture: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus

Kerry County Council has pledged to rectify a “meaningless” Irish name attached to a social housing estate in Dingle.

The embarrassing “botún” in the Gaeltacht town, where it is public policy to preserve and protect the Irish language, emerged during Seachtain na Gaeilge.

'Pairceanna na Glas' a new 20-house Clúid development at the Grove, and the first social housing development in many years in the Gaeltacht town, was meaningless, ungrammatical and contained misspelling, scholars and locals had said. They had objected for months but the name had been allowed to stand.

There had been huge publicity about the issue last week, Cllr Breandán Fitzgerald said, adding that the people of the Gaeltacht had lost trust in the council.

“This was right in the middle of Seachtain na Gaeilge and the only thing the Irish community around the country have been talking about is the name with no meaning in west Kerry,” Mr Fitzgerald (FF) said.

“The issue was raised in October that the name Pairceanna na Glas has no meaning. We are now in March."

“Whether it is Clúid or Kerry County Council, the name is wrong."

If it were an English estate the name would be changed.

Mr Fitzgerald moved to have an emergency motion to rectify the error.

His motion was seconded by mayor of Kerry Cllr Patrick Connor-Scarteen (FG).

The meeting was told of a further error in Irish in a placename in the village of Ardfert.

Moira Murrell, chief executive of Kerry County Council, said the original application was from a private developer. However, she admitted the error did occur.

Management was now looking to put in place processes in the treatment of planning applications to make sure there were checks on place names including with the Placenames office.

No disrespect

There was no disrespect meant to the Gaeltacht, and the regions and Irish were important to the council, Ms Murrell said.

The Ardfert error would also be rectified, if necessary, she said.

It also emerged that the position of Irish language officer in Kerry, a county with two Gaeltachts, is currently vacant.

Cllr Seamus Cosaí Fitzgerald asked the council to employ an Irish language officer.

Another issue raised was that the chief executive's monthly reports have been entirely in English.

Mr Fitzgerald had earlier sought and got an assurance that the chief executive’s report would include Irish in future.