While the Minister for Transport removed confusing new road signs from Dublin's streets last year, the state of signposting remains a major cause of complaint among tourists, according to research carried out by Bord Fáilte. Barry McCall reports.
A spokesperson for the tourism authority says: "The Visitor Attitudes Survey reveals that the most widely reported disadvantage of Ireland relative to other destinations is our road infrastructure. One in every four holidaymakers comment on our bad roads and one in 10 complain about poor signposting."
These figures are worse than they look, as only about 40 per cent of overseas visitors actually use a car. Thus about 60 per cent of visitors who use a car here complain about the bad roads and 25 per cent complain about signposting.
RAC Ireland undertook research last year on the subject of Irish road signs, surveying 200 car-using tourists at Rosslare and Dublin ports as they prepared to return home after their holiday.
Two in five car driving tourists said they would not take their vehicle back here after having their holiday enjoyment diminished by poor roads and signposting. They were especially critical of road signage in rural areas.
Conor Faughnan of the AA says another problem is with non-sequential signs. According to Faughnan, "tourists looking for towns like Clifden will be guided fairly well by the signposts for much of the journey, but then will be left at a crossroads with no signpost or any other indication of what direction to take."