Donegal resident hits out over misspelled Irish road signs
A Donegal resident has said repeated mistakes on Irish-language road signs show that the council needs more staff who are fluent in Irish.
Dáire Ó Néill was speaking after spotting an incorrect Irish spelling for Letterkenny on a road sign at the entrance to Newtowncunningham.
The sign spells Letterkenny as “Leitir Ceandinn”, instead of the correct Irish spelling, “Leitir Ceanainn”.
When contacted by Donegal Daily , Donegal County Council confirmed that the Newtown sign contains an error and said steps will be taken to correct it.
A spokesperson said: “Donegal County Council use the Irish place names on signs as advised by the Bunachar Logainmneacha na hÉireann, under the Official Languages Act 2003 (Part 5).
“In relation to the sign photo submitted, it appears that a ‘d’ was mistakenly used instead of an ‘a’ in the sign production process, which was not picked up prior to erection.
“DCC are aware of the mistake, and propose to take measures to rectify.”
Dáire said the mistake is not an isolated one and believes it points to a wider issue around Irish-language resources within the council.
“This just shows that the council need to hire more staff who are fluent in Irish because these are historical mistakes from a council that under invested in our national language,” he said.
The issue follows a similar complaint last year over a road sign in Manorcunningham, where the Irish spelling appeared as “Mainléar Uí Chuinneagáin” instead of the correct “Mainéar Uí Chuinneagáin”. That sign was later replaced.