€65m on Irish road signs

LordSutch

I hate Bilingual road signs. I hate them here and I hate them in Wales, where I also do a bit of driving. So my solution would be to introduce 'Holographic overlay signs' which display in one language or the other as you drive past the sign, but never with the two languages displayed at the same time.

I find bilingual signs too messy and cluttered, specially when driving at speed on motorways.

Carlos Orange

Riskymove wrote: »

the problem is with the law introduced which requires the Irish and english to be the same size and equal status etc

as with many of our problems, bad law is at the heart of it

That law doesn't seem to exist (yet) -

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/new-road-signs-with-parity-for-irish-may-be-introduced-1.1587458

"The introduction of a new design would also require legislative change as existing road sign legislation stipulates that road signs must give priority to English place names."

An Coilean

rawn wrote: »

Does anyone else see this as a massive waste of time and money?

Given that the article its self says ''These would be new signs that have to go up anyway so there would be no additional cost involved''

I would have to say no, not a waste of money in any conceviable way.

An Coilean

kneemos wrote: »

Most of them are already way too small and cluttered.Adding Irish would make them. Indecipherable.

Its not about adding Irish, the Irish is already on them, but if you are going to have Irish on the signs, which we already have, you may as well make it legible rather than the force inclined mess we have now.

An Coilean

rawn wrote: »

My understanding of that is... they just spent €65m on new signs? And they confused drivers even more by cramming Irish all over them, without testing out a few signs first.

Your understanding is flawed, the signs the 65 million was spent on used the existing format that has been in use for at least 20 years. The signs with the proposed new format have not gone up anywhere yet and the 65 million has nothing to do with them.

Carlos Orange

An Coilean wrote: »

Its not about adding Irish, the Irish is already on them, but if you are going to have Irish on the signs, which we already have, you may as well make it legible rather than the force inclined mess we have now.

Or take it off altogether.

An Coilean

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

It's about safety. The exact reason we have smaller print for Irish names as things stand.

Any evidence for that or is it true because you say so?

onemorechance

rawn wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/green-light-for-plan-to-make-road-signs-more-irish-29736922.html



Does anyone else see this as a massive waste of time and money? I still cannot understand why we cling to this dead language so fiercely. We live in a country where people either speak both Irish and English, or just English. We don't need Irish translations everywhere. Don't get me started on the pointlessness of mandatorily teaching it in schools :rolleyes: Surely it's time we stopped fighting to keep the Irish language relevant?

We could also save money by joining the United Kingdom.

We could get rid of the office of the President and sell or lease out the Áras, although Liz might decide to use it as her pad rent free!

The Dáil could be amalgamated into Stormount and the Seanad done away with completely, even though a recent referendum showed the majority of people who could be bothered to vote decided that they wanted it to remain.

The army, navy, air corp could be combined into the British armed forces. So much money could be saved by ridding Ireland of anything which which is distinctly Irish. I'm sure the OP has so much more examples of how we are wasting money on being Irish. Let's hear them!

Irish literature is the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe, wouldn't it be great if we were the generation that finally rid out nation of this costly burden which has been inflicting text written in Irish on the people of the island since the 4th century. Great idea OP! We need more visionaries like you!

Boombastic

never mind the irish/english, what about the hedges growing over them and cleaning a few of them....no point in fighting over what's wrote on the signs if we won't be able to read it anyway

onemorechance

Boombastic wrote: »

never mind the irish/english, what about the hedges growing over them and cleaning a few of them....no point in fighting over what's wrote on the signs if we won't be able to read it anyway

Good dose of weedkiller would solve that issue once and for all, no more costly maintenance issues for the local councils! All that wasted money just so keep CO2 down. Hedges, trees and Irish, at this rate we'll be out of recession in no time!

Boombastic

onemorechance wrote: »

Good dose of weedkiller would solve that issue once and for all, no more costly maintenance issues for the local councils! All that wasted money just so keep CO2 down. Hedges, trees and Irish, at this rate we'll be out of recession in no time!

harsh, a well timed yearly trim of offending branches and a bit of water would be more effective

Days 298

onemorechance wrote: »

We could also save money by joining the United Kingdom.

We could get rid of the office of the President and sell or lease out the Áras, although Liz might decide to use it as her pad rent free!

The Dáil could be amalgamated into Stormount and the Seanad done away with completely, even though a recent referendum showed the majority of people who could be bothered to vote decided that they wanted it to remain.

The army, navy, air corp could be combined into the British armed forces. So much money could be saved by ridding Ireland of anything which which is distinctly Irish. I'm sure the OP has so much more examples of how we are wasting money on being Irish. Let's hear them!

Irish literature is the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe, wouldn't it be great if we were the generation that finally rid out nation of this costly burden which has been inflicting text written in Irish on the people of the island since the 4th century. Great idea OP! We need more visionaries like you!

I can stand here and say I am Irish with next to no Gaeilge. I think the Irish language is dead. I'm still Irish. I think the state is wasting money on the Irish language. Im still distinctly Irish without that language. This doesnt mean I am British because I think the Irish language is dead. There is alot more that separates us from the British than an unused and much hated language and I don't see why not being a Gaeilge supporter implies some sort of love for the United Kingdom. Is there something wrong with having some sort of British identity or like for the British culture? Burn everything except there coal eh? What does Britain have anything to do with us discussing how our countrys run, is it an attempt to question someones Irishness?

Boombastic

the British cut the branches and wash their signs

An Coilean

Days 298 wrote: »

This doesnt mean I am British because I think the Irish language is dead.

I would agree, believing Irish is dead does not make you British, it does make you wrong though.

Days 298

An Coilean wrote: »

I would agree, believing Irish is dead does not make you British, it does make you wrong though.

I phrased that wrong. It has strongholds but its generally footing is very weak and I don't see a bright future for it. Its largely absent (dead) to the vast majority of Irish men and women.

onemorechance

Days 298 wrote: »

I phrased that wrong. It has strongholds but its generally footing is very weak and I don't see a bright future for it. Its largely absent (dead) to the vast majority of Irish men and women.

Kill it! Kill it with fire! :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnod9vtB4xA