JIM DUFFY,
Madam, - I know that some Irish language enthusiasts have a reputation for arrogant superiority, but even by this standard, Liam Ó Cuinneagáin's letter of February 7th takes the biscuit. He has the audacity to suggest that "there are strong arguments in favour of adopting the Irish language version only of place-names." In other words, the 95 per cent of Irish people who are English-language speakers must by diktat be forced to use Irish language place-names. Talk about tail wagging the dog.
Mr Ó Cuinnegáin is correct in saying that many of our anglicised place-names bear little relationship to their original Irish versions. But that is irrelevant. Today, the vast majority of people know these places by their anglicised names. Therefore, by usage over generations, those are now the correct versions. The original Irish language versions are no more the "correct" version than can a sixpence can be used to buy The Irish Times.
As for saying that people cannot make any sense out of "Galway" or "Killarney", that is poppycock. Of course they can. It is the place they live in, or travel to. Those of us (and I am one) interested in the origins of names may like to know why they got those names. But most people aren't. They just want to know where they are. - Yours, etc.,
JIM DUFFY, Church Street, Dublin 7.