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RESIDENTS LIVING IN the Co Clare town currently called Lehinch may soon get a chance to vote on whether to put the ‘a’ back into the seaside resort’s name.
The town, popular with golfers and surfers, has been popularly known as Lahinch since the 1850s, but the name was changed on official road signs to Lehinch around five years ago.
The change arose from the town appearing as Lehinch on the Placenames Database of Ireland and on Ordnance Survey Maps.
However, many locals abhorred the change, with some going so far as to cover up the ‘e’ with an ‘a’ in signs around the village.
Now, following a decision by a Clare County Council Special Policy Committee (SPC) on the issue, councillors are looking to set aside funds in 2018 for a local vote in Lehinch/Lahinch on the issue.
Cllr Bill Slattery (FG), a native of the town, said yesterday:
People are very annoyed the way the name was changed in the road signs. As far I can recall, Lahinch with an ‘a’ has always been Lahinch.
Chair of the SPC committee, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) said: “It is a joke that the spelling is not right and is important that the spelling is put right.”
Cllr Cooney said that other towns and villages have been affected with misspellings on official road signs and that the planned plebiscite for Lahinch will be a pilot project with more to follow.
Ballyvaughan/Ballyvaghan
Local hotelier Michael Vaughan said that Ballyvaughan lost its ‘u’ in road signs and Miltown Malbay got an extra ‘l’ in the changes made to signs five years ago. In the same sweep of changes to signage on the N67 in 2011, Ennistymon became ‘Ennistimon’ on road signs.
Mr Vaughan said that the name change to ‘Lehinch’ “is something that has annoyed the citizens of Lahinch from the day it was altered without consideration for the businesses and it has caused nothing but confusion”.
Owner of Vaughan’s Lodge hotel, Mr Vaughan said: “For guests coming to the hotel every summer, it is probably the most asked question I get – ‘What is the story with the two names? Which is correct?’ That kind of confusion shouldn’t be anywhere.”
He added:
I have been tempted to put a sign up in front of the hotel saying ‘It is Lahinch!’
Mr Vaughan said that until the name is changed, the manual changes made by some locals to the ‘Lehinch signs’ around the resort will continue.
He said that the name change has particularly affected long time residents of Lahinch. He said: “They feel very slighted by it. It is something that has happened to them without their asking. When officialdom changes names like this, there should be widespread consultation.”
‘At the heart of the Irish psyche’
Mr Vaughan said that the controversy around the name change “is a salutary lesson when people make changes, there should be consultation because you are talking about people’s sense of place and that is something that goes to the heart of the Irish psyche”.
Mr Vaughan said that it will be money well spent to put the ‘a’ back into the name. He said: “Whatever it costs to change it back, the authorities deserve to have to pay it.”
The estimated costings around the name change to Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis from a 2006 plebiscite were put at at least €10,000 at the time.
A spokesman for Clare County Council said yesterday that it is not possible yet to provide an approximate cost on the vote to a proposed name change. He said that such costings will be considered following the passing of a Council resolution on the issue.
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Pumps go up in 5…4…3…2….1… and they won’t be coming down that’s for sure
@kevinhunt101: that’s very true. beef prices up too
@kevinhunt101:
Fuel prices increase…VAT increases both on retail and pump purchace.
The garage still only makes between 10 -15 cent p/l
@kevinhunt101: This in a nut shell is why we should be going electric…..no more dependence of spikes with petrol prices
@Peter Hughes: since we are already buying 20% of our electricity from europe how do you not see it rising?… with every venture being objected I dont see how we get to a point where we are sufficient. Wind farms are being objected because of the “not in my back garden” group. Fossil fuels plants are being closed due to polution but not being replaced. Ardnacrusha hydro plant floods the shannon yearly. Solar is not that viable in whole sale for us. nuclear albeit is the most logical, but is the one most feared even though our imported electricity comed from England and France’s nuclear sites
We don’t have the capacity in this country if everyone was to go electric.
I smell a right conspiracy.
@John Quill: no one mentioned weapons of mass destruction yet. Troops getting ready, planes on way and drones. Yeah yanks need a war all right!
I’m starting to believe that the next world defining moment will start in that region, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Israel, all those countries have very close ties to either the US, EU, Russia or China. We like to think cool heads in modern society will stop any chance of human fatalities ever reaching into the millions again in global conflicts, but human history paints a different picture. Surely I’m wrong,, we as a species couldn’t be that stupid to allow our leaders take humanity into another global conflict, could we? But then when you look at who is running some of the worlds most powerful countries maybe it is possible,, scary thought….
@Devilsavocado: I think you answered your own question. The greed of the richest 1% will be the downfall of man.
@Peter Cavey: just to point out, the income level of the top 1% world wide is like 32,000 dollars…. So the average earner in Ireland is a member of the top 1% in the world. The richest 1% are absolutely responsible for the bulk of the world’s problems, but we don’t often see the fallout from our own actions.
@Ciarán Ó Fallúin: okay, the top 0.1%, you know what I mean.
Someone’s about to get Freedom just as we head to an election.
Elections coming up. No US President fails to get relected if they are a war president.
Unfortunetly Millions of Iranians will pay the price.
@Niallers: yep, American citizens will vote for war every time. The only way I see this changing is if war visits their own shores to show them what they’re actually voting for. Nah they still wouldn’t change.
@Niallers: Trump’s base are anti-war. He may as well pull out of the election if he goes to war. He’s well aware of it too. How many times have you seen this now since the beginning of 2017? If you have been paying attention then you’ll have noticed a pretty clear pattern emerge. I wouldn’t get too excited about the prospect of war if I were you.
@Burn_the_Witch: I hope you are right.
Thanks CIA.
Has that man ever spoken the truth. His fascism trial is rolling along nicely.
@Paul Furey: Fascism Trial?
@Paul Furey: Give your head a whack Paul, the tape is stuck.
Its the attacks mixed with complete uncertainty of how Trump will respond that drives up prices. The reaction wouldn’t be so “knee jerk” under another president.
@Dan: Nothing uncertain about it – there’ll be no reaction at all. The only thing Trump has actually done is engage in a trade war with China, even then he hasn’t actually imposed half of the tariffs he’s mentioned.
Higher oil prices make it more profitable to extract shale oil in the US so he has a vested interest in allowing the prices to rise (to a point). He’ll mouth off and do nothing as has been his modus operandi since getting elected.
@Dan: Sorry Dan but you’re a d0pe. He’s a non interventionist. He has proved that over and over again. Is it lack of awareness of what’s happening in the world or perhaps TDS that makes you say such things? Id love to know.
Saudi’s suffering from low fuel prices , this be a good way of getting a boost in money terms. There are low Frequency blockers this drones use to prevent this .
Saudis, Emiratis and Qataris buying billions in arms to expend in stone age Yemen at little or no risk of retaliation … until now. According to the UN there are 10K direct casualities in Yemen and at least 40K wounded with up to 10 Million civilians at risk from famine, disease and civil rights abuses. Trump’s response is ‘lock and load’ rhetoric to escalate the situation because stock markets don’t like retaliation!!!
Time for some freedom to be delivered to Iran, who will somehow get the blame for this with the Saudi’s and Israel pulling Trump and the US puppet strings….
@Michael Patrick Newell: I think the US will quickly come to the realisation that fighting Persians in Iran is a different proposition to Arabs in Iraq. On a tactical level Iran should be no match but what to do after is a question the US has failed or refused to answer since the end of the Second World War.
What will an increase in price for gas at the pumps do for Trumps re-election chances?
@Gavin Tobin: Perhaps that’s why Bolton’s friends did it.
Peace full Trump ,a yes
Release strategic reserve….. We’ll be grand by tomorrow…..
Is it just me or is someone getting carried away a wee bit ?
There goes the element of surprise
have your say