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Dingle or An Daingean? Public to have the final say in name row
By Staff Reporter
 The
people of Dingle are to be asked to vote on a controversial decision to
change the official name of the town to An Daingean.
Kerry County Council has decided to call the vote following intense opposition
to a decision by Gaeltacht Minister Eamon Ó Cuiv to have the Irish version
only of the town on road signs outside the Gaeltacht.
It also emerged at this week's council meeting that if the name Dingle
continued to be used the community could find itself excluded from the Gaeltacht
— meaning the loss of valuable state grants.
Three different motions were put before the meeting in Tralee — proposing
An Daingean be changed back to Dingle, the council organise a vote and both
the Irish and English versions of the name be used on signs.
It was eventually decided to ask the people of the area to have their
say.
The vote will decide if the name should be in Irish only or bilingual
— Daingean Uí Chuis Dingle.
Fine Gael councillor Pat McCarthy proposed the restoration of bilingual
signage and claimed Minister O Cuiv had shown no regard for the democratic
rights of the people.
He said: "I can't understand why he went down this road."
Opponents to the change claim Dingle is now an internationally-recognised
brand name and vital in attracting tourism.
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