Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to address this issue today and I am replying on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar. The Minister has responsibility for overall policy and funding for the national roads programme. However, the planning, design, and implementation of individual national road schemes, including the provision of road signs, are statutory matters for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Regional and local roads, including improvement, maintenance and the provision of road signs, are a statutory function of each road authority in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. In 2003, the regional roads signposting programme was introduced to sign all significant junctions on regional roads in county council areas. This programme is now nearly complete.

There is a clear procedure in place for local authorities to ensure that the correct spelling is used on all traffic signs. This procedure is outlined in the 2010 traffic signs manual. It is a statutory requirement that place names on information signs be in both Irish and English, except for names of destinations in Gaeltacht areas. Where the names of places in these areas are in Irish only and the spelling of a place name is similar in both languages, only the Irish form of the name should be shown. With regard to the spelling of place names on traffic signs, clear guidance on this issue is set out in section 1.1.49 of the 2010 traffic signs manual which is available on the Department's website. In ensuring that the correct forms and spelling of place names are used on traffic signs, road authorities should consult the relevant place names orders published as statutory instruments. If the place name is not included in a place names order, the Gazetteer of Ireland, the place names branch of Ordnance Survey Ireland, should be consulted. Alternatively, in determining the correct Irish form of a place name, road authorities can also consult with, and obtain advice from, An Coimisiun Logainmneacha. Before consulting with an coimisiún, road authorities may wish to ascertain, through local consultation, whether specific place names have a particular local significance or what traditional local usage may exist.

On a bilingual place name sign, the Irish place name is positioned on top, with the English equivalent underneath. In order to convey to drivers as clearly as possible that two distinct languages are contained on the sign, there must be an obvious distinction in text so as not to compromise road safety. This is imperative not just for Irish drivers, but also for the large number of tourists on Irish roads. To this end, sentence case lettering at an angle of 15 degrees is used for the Irish text and uppercase lettering is used for English text. It is believed that the use of inclined or italic and generally lower case script emphasises and best represents the older Gaelic script. In addition, Irish place names are on average 40% longer than their English equivalent. If Irish text was in uppercase and at the required height to be visible, then this would result in much larger signs or numerous abbreviations which could lead to lack of clarity of the sign for the driver. There is a practical implication in preventing signs from being unduly wide where space is limited on substantial numbers of roads around the country where sight lines of visibility can become obscured by larger signs. Also, larger signs require larger posts for structural stability, which increases the safety risk of any potential road collision impact. On balance, the current system of bilingual signs is the preferred option for displaying placenames in both languages in as safe a manner as possible.

In conclusion, the display of text on traffic signs is determined under section 95 of the Roads Traffic Act 1961. The primary motivation of the Department is to ensure that traffic information signs assist in the safe use of the road network and provide clarity for road users so as not to compromise road safety. It is a matter for local authorities to ensure that guidelines set out in the 2010 traffic signs manual are followed.