Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak on amendment No. 69 and the design of traffic signage. I want to speak specifically on the bilingual nature of much of our road signage and the prominence given to the English language. I engaged on this for years as a member of a local authority. I have had any amount of challenges with regard to road signage. Companies in my constituency deliver road signs for the whole country. There is sloppiness in attention to detail in many cases. More particularly, I want to discuss the standard that exists in signage. There is a spectacular opportunity if we make a tiny change in design to put the Irish and English languages on an equal platform. By doing so, we would raise awareness of the Irish language. There are multiple examples presented by Irish language activists that have been seen by other public representatives. It is our intention to table an amendment on Report Stage to reflect this in new road signs. There should not be an additional cost incurred. There should be an extra eye on the design. This has the potential to deliver a significant change and a move away from the disservice being done to the Irish language. I ask the Minister to consider the amendment we will table on Report Stage in good faith.