Minister did not have the right or mandate to interfere with our name

COISTE Daingean Uí Chúis, Dingle were surprised to see Gaeltacht Minister Eamon Ó Cuiv resubmitting that letter about Dingle (Irish Examiner, May 15).

To reiterate our position one last time...

We want to have our Irish and English names, Dingle and Daingean Uí Chúis, recognised as the official names of our town. Every town in Ireland outside the Gaeltacht has an official Irish and English name.

Last year, the minister signed an order which stated that Dingle is no longer the official name of our town. It is now illegal to have the name Dingle appear on large-scale Ordinance Survey sheets, Land Registry maps, Acts of the Oireachtas, statutory instruments and on all national signposts.

For the record, we have never advocated that English signposts appear in the Gaeltacht. It is necessary for our tourist industry that the name Dingle remains on all county council signposts outside the Gaeltacht.

We wish to have Irish-only signposts within the Gaeltacht and bilingual signposts outside it.

We believe Mr Ó Cuiv did not have the right or the mandate to interfere with our historical names, Dingle and Daingean Uí Chuis.

We have been known and accepted by those names for the past 700 years. The names are an integral part of our heritage and our identity.

When this Government is presented with a successful plebiscite to reinstate the names Dingle and Daingean Uí Chúis as the official names of our town, will Mr Ó Cuiv accept democracy? Will he finally be persuaded to amend the Placenames Order? Or has the minister and this Government completely lost all ability to listen to the people?

Fergus O’Flaithbheartaigh

Chairman

Kate O’Connor

Secretary

John Moriarty

Coiste Daingean Uí Chúis

Dingle

Co Kerry