Irish Language Commissioner Seán Ó Cuirreain, whose job is to police the implementation of the Official Languages Act 2003 , has said a scheme published by Kerry County Council last week on the use of Irish in council dealings with the public was legally binding and "a double lock".
The plebiscite councillors have requested to begin the name change from the official An Daingean to Dingle was "a grey area" vis-a-vis the languages act and the placenames order, he said. Because An Daingean was a Gaeltacht area, a name change on the strength of a plebiscite was not as clearcut as in a non-Gaeltacht area.
The Kerry scheme has gone beyond the terms of the recently implemented placenames order which will see the name Dingle removed from signposts, OS maps and statutory instruments and replaced with An Daingean.
The scheme came into effect from July 26th and will be in force for three years. It is one of 16 local authority language services schemes published last week which will be implemented by public bodies under section 11 of the Official Languages Act 2003.
As well as implementing the placenames order, the Kerry scheme undertakes to also change electoral registers in Gaeltacht areas to their Irish version.
Irish is to be the working language in the library in An Daingean as well as the council's area offices in the town, by 2020 - a tacit acknowledgment that Irish is not always the working language in the town, despite it being part of the Gaeltacht.
Staff at An Daingean offices and library will also be required to continue to provide a service in English. Receptionists are to receive training in the Irish language in all councils in Kerry.
The scheme was drawn up by an internal working group of senior council staff and town council staff and has been agreed upon and confirmed by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív.
A simultaneous translation service at council meetings is on hold because of practicalities, according to the council's Irish officer, Marie Ní Scannláin.
The Official Languages Act 2003 did not stipulate that every document must now be translated into Irish, and it will not cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of euro, Mr Ó Cuív has said.
"The documents that must be translated are annual reports and accounts of public bodies and major policy statements such as White Papers, Green Papers, etc. Since many public bodies are already providing a reasonable service through the Irish language, the financial implications of the Act are minimal and in most cases are being met from within existing administrative budgets."
The published schemes are available on www.coimisineir.ie