Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. The tenor of the question was wider than that remit. What I was driving at was more about re-imagining rural Ireland and trying to look at more homogenous signage that would describe the character and the charm of our rural places. In terms of community development, particularly in terms of the town renewal schemes and so on, where the Department is giving out money, it would be great if the Department was advocating that more traditional signage would be used. We could drive through parts of England and parts of rural Ireland at the moment and we would not see much difference, which is a shame. We are losing part of our tourism charm and potential but I think we can arrest that with clever initiatives. That is really where I was going. I am thinking in terms of my own constituency, in particular areas such as the Blackwater Valley and the Waterford greenway, and we have a new Celtic corridor being imagined there. I would like to see the signage and waypoints standardised so that when people are in the area, they can see that as being reflective of the journey, the charm and the culture of where they are.

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