Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I welcome this Bill, particularly section 48, which amends the Local Government Act 2001. The new section 191(1) of the 2001 Act will provide:

The townland, civil parish, electoral division and non-municipal town that, immediately before the commencement of this section, was known (pursuant to the Order of 2004) as An Daingean shall, from such commencement, be known, in the Irish language, as Daingean Uí Chúis and, in the English language, as Dingle.

I welcome the Minister to the House and, like the people of the great county of Kerry and everyone involved in tourism there, I thank him for this change. I would like to say it is timely, but it is long overdue. Regardless, he moved as quickly as he could. The name was to be amended some time ago under the previous Administration's Dublin mayoralty Bill, but that Bill lapsed and, thanks to the Minister, the Dingle provision has been included in this Bill, which the House will pass today. I express the gratitude of everyone in Dingle. When I visited it two weekends ago, this was the first question I was asked. I have received a number of telephone calls since from people who had heard about the Bill and were confused about whether the matter would need to be referred to the local authority, but such a referral is not envisaged. In the Minister's response, I am sure he will clarify that the matter will be in order.

As the House knows, this question was democratically decided by the people of that town in 2006 when a plebiscite was carried overwhelmingly. I also thank my colleague, Councillor Séamus Cosaí Fitzgerald of Dingle, who campaigned for a long time to have the people's wish for a plebiscite upheld. As the Members at the time will recall, former Senator O'Toole and I were often like a duet in the previous Seanad in seeking to have the confusion ended. Tourists could not recognise that the "An Daingean" on sign posts referred to Dingle. As we know, Dingle is an internationally renowned name, as is Killarney. While we are fond of Cill Airne and the Minister has made provision for the Irish language, we approve of his move to have both English and Irish placenames used in future changes.

As Dingle is an internationally known brand name, not having it on sign posts has led to considerable confusion. There are many stories of people travelling extra miles needlessly in trying to reach Dingle. It is good to know that maps, sign posts and so on will be put right and that both "Dingle" and "Daingean Uí Chúis" will be displayed. I recognise what the Minister has done. A victory for democracy, he has followed the plebiscite's decision and put matters right.

The Bill also addresses the issue of incineration, to which the previous speaker referred. We must face reality, in that we have no more space for landfills. Incineration is the way forward if we do not want to face increasing fines from Europe. I endorse the eminently sensible course being taken by the Minister.