The Official Languages Act 2003, as amended, provides the statutory framework for the use of the Irish language in public administration, including the use of official Irish language placenames. Section 9A of the Act (as inserted by the Official Languages (Amendment) Act, 2021) sets out requirements for public bodies in relation to the correct use of names, addresses and titles in the Irish language in the provision of services, including a requirement that public bodies shall ensure that information and communications systems can facilitate the use of síneadh fada in Irish language text.
Following an extensive public consultation process and engagement with a range of public bodies, Ministerial Guidelines regarding Sections 9A-9D of the Act will be published shortly and will provide further guidance on the requirements regarding the visibility, accuracy and prominence of the Irish language in communications across the public service, including the use of official Irish language placenames.
Work in this regard is also being advanced in the context of the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services 2024-2030 and its first accompanying Action Plan for the period 2026–2028. Action 2.5.1 of the Action Plan provides for the use of official Gaeltacht placenames as a default in the terms of reference of the Technical Working Group, formed under the National Plan, while Action 2.5.2 addresses the issues to be resolved in relation to Irish language addressing in the Eircode system. More broadly, section 2.5 of the Action Plan states that the prescription of the use of Official Gaeltacht placenames in Irish by public bodies as a default will be examined as part of the upcoming Language Standards. Draft Language Standards, which are to replace the system of Language Schemes enacted by the 2003 Act, are at an advanced stage of preparation and will shortly be distributed for a first stage of consultation.
In the case of road traffic signs and the question of similar Irish and English placenames, the Road Traffic (Signs) (Amendment) Regulations, 1970, Statutory Instrument No. 164 of 1970, states that ‘where the spelling of a place-name is similar in both languages an Irish inscription only need be shown on the sign’. This matter is also addressed in the Department of Transport’s current Traffic Signs Manual. (www.roadguidelines.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/TSM-Chapter-1-Final-Version-3-October-2025-2025-10-22.pdf)
In regard to other matters, Irish language placenames fall into two broad categories. The first category is placenames as defined in Part 5 of the Official Languages Act 2003, (www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2003/act/32/enacted/en/print#part5) mostly consisting of the names of administrative units such as townlands (c.51,500), electoral areas, civil parishes, and also the names of natural and manmade as feature on Tailte Éireann maps. Determining the Irish forms of these names has, since 1946, largely been the responsibility of An Coimisiún Logainmneacha (Placenames Commission), now called the Placenames Committee, which oversees the research of my Department's Placenames Branch. Since 2003, the Placenames Committee also advises the incumbent Minister in making Placenames Orders which establish the legal Irish versions of placenames under the Official Languages Act. Under the 2003 Act, the Irish versions of placenames have, for the first time since the foundation of the State, the same force and effect as the English language version of the placename.
The Irish forms of some 46,800 townland names have so far been published on logainm.ie, counting completed placenames orders, draft placenames orders and other official recommendations. Under the Official Languages Act only the Irish versions of Gaeltacht placenames have any legal effect and must be used in all official contexts by the State and its public bodies. The Irish name of every Gaeltacht townland has been established in The Placenames (Ceantair Ghaeltachta) Order 2004 (www.logainm.ie/download/an-tordu-logainmneacha-ceantair-ghaeltachta-2004.pdf)and a further c.6,000 Gaeltacht placenames can be found in The Placenames Order (Ceantair Ghaeltachta) Order 2011. (www.logainm.ie/download/an-tordu-logainmneacha-ceantair-ghaeltachta-2011.pdf)
The second category of placenames consists of the names of streets, roads, squares, buildings, building groups, etc., usually collectively termed streetnames,
for which local authorities are solely responsible. The then Department of the Environment issued a circular entitled “Naming of Streets and Roads, Numbering of Housed and the use of Irish” in 1986, which states that ‘Local authorities should use a bilingual format for name plates’ [if the name is not in Irish only], and that they ‘should make available the official Irish version of names of streets, roads and residential areas to ensure that Irish forms of address can be used’.
My Department is committed to ensuring that clear, consistent and practical frameworks are in place to support the increased visibility and use of Irish placenames across public bodies, and I will continue to advance this work as a priority.
