Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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231. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the options available to residents of locations (details supplied) in County Kerry, whose placenames no longer appear on signage bilingually as a result of the Official Placenames Act; if consideration will be given to changing this through local consensus; if so, what the process would be and the way local persons engage in this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42635/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Section 48 of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 provides for the substitution of a new Part 18 of the Local Government Act 2001, revising and updating the procedures for the changing of placenames.

Under the new arrangements, a proposal to change a placename will, in the first instance, be a function of the relevant local authority. Any proposal adopted must specify the proposed new name in the Irish language only, or in both the Irish language and the English language, and must be approved by at least half of the members of the local authority or municipal district. Following consultation with certain prescribed persons and the public, local authority or municipal district members may by resolution (passed by not less than half the members) decide to hold or not to hold a ballot of the qualified electors in the place to which the proposed new placename applies. If a ballot takes place and the proposal is approved by a majority of the qualified electors, the Cathaoirleach of the local authority or the municipal district makes a declaration that the new placename shall apply from a specified date.

Where it is proposed to change the name of a place in a Gaeltacht area and that proposal is carried by a majority of the votes cast, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht must make an order declaring that the proposed new placename will become the placename in respect of the place concerned and any pre-existing provision of a placenames order made under section 32 of the Official Languages Act 2003 will stand revoked.

Certain elements of section 48 of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 relating specifically to Daingean Úi Chúis in County Kerry have been commenced. The remaining provisions, dealing with placename changes generally and the process described above, will be commenced as soon as the necessary regulations setting out procedures for the holding of a ballot and other related matters have been finalised.

I have no function in relation to road signage which comes within the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.