Local residents in one of the country's top tourist spots, An Daingean - formerly known as Dingle - are to be given the chance to decide on its name. Mark Hennessy and Anne Lucey report.
Kerry County Council unanimously decided yesterday that a poll should be held to see if the west Kerry town's original placename should be restored.
The name was changed to An Daingean in March by Minister for the Gaeltacht Eamon Ó Cuív under the Official Languages Act, one of his main legislative achievements.
The name An Daingean was selected by the Placenames Commission, not by the Minister, when it ruled on names to be used for 2,300 places in the Gaeltacht in 2003.
Last night the Minister said locals could call the town "Beverly Hills, or Baile Fungi" - after Dingle Bay's famous dolphin - if they wanted to. "That is their business," he told The Irish Times.
Mr Ó Cuív said he had been required to issue regulations changing names in line with the Placenames Commission's findings, though locals could change the name back using Section 18 of the Local Government Act, 2001.
However, Kerry County Council's legal experts disagree, since they advised councillors yesterday that the relevant part of this legislation had not yet been brought into force. Voters could express their preference in a poll held under sections 76-79 of the Local Government Act, 1946, and then apply to the Government to change the name, councillors were told.
The mayor of Kerry, Toireasa Ní Fhearaoisa, said both the council and Údarás na Gaeltachta should consult all the people of Corca Dhuibhne, the Dingle peninsula.
However, it is not yet clear if all residents of the peninsula will be able to vote or whether the electoral roll will be drawn more tightly.
Insisting he had been consistently misrepresented, the Minister said nobody raised a problem about the name change after the commission issued its findings in 2003.
Under the change, An Daingean would be used as the placename for the town in Acts of the Oireachtas, large-scale Ordnance Survey maps and road-signs.
However, Dingle would continue to be used alongside An Daingean in the road maps used by drivers and tourists: "The AA and others don't have a problem with any of this," he said.
However, he appeared to agree with Ms Ní Fhearaoisa's warning that the reintroduction of "Dingle" could have serious implications for funding under future reviews of Gaeltacht boundaries.