Dingle/ Daingean dispute nears end

The dispute over what to officially call the west Kerry Gaeltacht town known as An Daingean is practically resolved, the Kerry South Independent TD Jackie Healy Rae said yesterday, following a meeting with the Minister for Local Government on Thursday.

A 2005 law banned anglicised names in Gaeltacht areas and the people of Dingle found their 700-year-old name was no longer official and they now lived in An Daingean. The name Dingle was officially removed or blacked out on all road signs.

A heated campaign by townspeople began in order to reinstate the name and the name "Dingle" has been written on to most of the signage, unofficially.

Part of the campaign has also been to use the traditional Daingean Uí Chúis as the Irish version (An Daingean was chosen by the Placenames Commission in 2003). On Thursday Mr Healy-Rae led a delegation to meet Local Government Minister John Gormley.

Last night Fergus Ó Flaith-bheartaigh, spokesman for the Coiste Dingle Daingean Uí Chúis campaign group, who attended the meeting, said the group was confident that amendments to legislation would be carried through to allow the bilingual name.

© 2007 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times