Dingle still waiting for restoration of old order

SIX months ago, the people of Dingle, in association with Kerry Co Council, held a plebiscite in which 93% of the townspeople voted to reinstate their traditional bilingual names, Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis.

The Government’s response was to tape over ‘Dingle’ on every signpost in Co Kerry. Now our plebiscite lies bound in red tape, awaiting Government attention.

Recently, we highlighted a survey carried out by Dingle guesthouses, pubs, shops and restaurants over the St Patrick’s Day holiday weekend. It showed that eight out of 10 tourists said they had trouble finding the town. All American guidebooks refer to the town and area as the Dingle peninsula, and they found that the removal of Dingle from the signposts was very confusing. Dingle businesses reported trade down by as much as 50% on previous years. So far, all of this has been greeted by Government indifference and apathy.

On Easter Sunday, a landslide occurred on the Dingle peninsula and the following day local tour operators in Dun Chaoin complained of a fall-off in anticipated visitor numbers.

An emergency meeting was called by Kerry Co Council and Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue. Bilingual diversion signposts were demanded and granted, a new section of road was immediately made available to the council and, within five days of the landslide, Mr O’Donoghue was pictured opening a brand new stretch of road. He wanted the message sent out that the Dingle peninsula in his own South Kerry constituency was open for business.

Now if the minister could just give some directions for the right road to the Dingle peninsula, we’d all be sorted.

Kate O’Connor

Fergus O’Flaithbheartaigh

Seán O’Muircheartaigh

Coiste Dingle/Dingean Uí Chúis

Co Chiarraí