Irish language signs 'could improve tourism' claim

Irish language signs could be the key to improving tourism and business across the Mullingar area councillors agreed at a meeting of Mullingar Town Council.It was Cllr. Pat Collins who raised the need to upgrade signage on Mullingar streets and housing estates, suggesting that outdated signs could be replaced with bi-lingual ones.Signs which were erected nearly twenty years ago have greatly deteriorated he said, pointing out the Mullingar Business Park as one of the more obvious areas for an overhaul, which is much needed for business generation.Some of the housing states have no signage what-so-ever, he added.While Cllr. Collins said he knew finance was a main factor in considering such a facelift, he asked that money be found from somewhere:"There might even be a few bob if we went down the bilingual route," said Cllr. Collins.Cllrs. Ken Glynn, Mick Dollard and Aidan Davitt all agreed with Collin's motion, with Cllr. Glynn saying the Council owed it to the buisness community of Mullingar to have better signage.Cllr. Aidan Davitt agreed it was important to promote the town through Irish, especially with the two gaelscoileanna in Mullingar, and added that particular attention should be paid to promote the important folklore areas in the town and across County Westmeath in general. Cllr. Mick Dollard said residents' associations had applied for environmental grants to erect granite stone signs outside their estates and wondered if the Council could do the same. Cllr. Ruth Illingworh said she liked the idea of going down the bilingual route, but said this could only apply to place names that had some historical connection with the area, using Ardilaun and Ardleigh as examples of estates that had no historical context in the town. Cllr. Ken Glynn said he took great offence to this, as he felt the residents of those areas would, adding that Ardilaun and Ardeigh residents had as much right to bilingual names as anywhere else in town and asked Cllr. Illingworth to clarify what she meant."I've no objection to using Irish names, I'm sorry you continue to misinterpret what I'm saying Cllr. Glynn," she answered.County Manager Danny McLoughlin said he felt it was important to think about generic signs and committed to taking on board the spirit of the motion: "The Business Park needs an overhaul and we could get a number of generic designs drawn up with the Mullingar crest on them. We'll do some more thinking about it and take it on board," he finished.