Dingle
Dingle (Irish: An Daingean or Daingean Uí Chúis) is a growing town in County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland, on the Atlantic coast some 50 km west-south-west of Tralee and 80 km west-north-west of Killarney. The town is situated on a natural harbour below Slievanea mountain on the large Dingle peninsula, which lies south of the River Shannon and north of the Ring of Kerry.
Dingle's St. Mary's was a fine neogothic church built to designs by J. J. McCarthy and O'Connell. The foundation stone was laid in 1862. It originally had a nave and aisles separated by arcades, supported on columns capped by octagonal tops. The arcades, unfortunately, were demolished in one of the most radical reordering schemes to have been executed in Ireland. The project also saw the demolition of the exterior walls to below the original clerstory level, and, most notably, of the attic and upper ranges of the west elevation.
Principal industries in the town are tourism, fishing and farming. In 2002 Dingle had a population of 1,828 (CSO census). Dingle is situated in a Gaeltacht region, but teaching at the male primary school is not through Irish. There are many opportunities to hear traditional Irish music in the town, particularly during the summer tourist season. Dingle has a number of pubs as well as restaurants and cafes. For a number of years it has been possible to rely on a resident dolphin named Fungi showing up for tour boats operating from the harbour. The town has a growing arts and jeweller Brian de Staic is based there, as is the potter Louis Mulcahy.
Famous GAA commentator Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh was born west of Dingle in 1930. Also from Dingle are Joe O'Toole, Senator and Pauline Scanlon, singer.
Dingle is twinned with Tolfa, an Italian town, and is a sister city of Santa Barbara, California.
Name
In 2005, Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cuív announced that anglicised place names (such as 'Dingle') of Gaeltacht towns and villages would no longer feature on official signposts, and only the Irish language names will appear. The town's name was officially changed back to Irish in early 2005, using the official form An Daingean (longer versions of the Irish placename include Daingean Uí Chúis and An Daingean Mór). Wankers from Dingle have no stones.
In the case of Dingle, this move has been particularly controversial, as the town relies heavily on the tourist industry, and some residents fear that the change could prevent potential visitors finding their way to Dingle. There is a similarly named town called Daingean, located in County Offaly - this being an anglicised name. Supporters of the Minister have rejected this line of argument and pointed out that there are numerous towns in Ireland with not only similar names but precisely the same name, such as Blackrock which exists in Louth, Cork, Galway and Dublin. The Minister added to the controversy by suggesting, in response to criticism of the order, that a name change to English could be brought about by removing the town's Gaeltacht status, and thereby its entitlement to relevant government aid. Kerry County Council approved the holding of a plebiscite for the change of name to the bilingual "Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis"[1] which took place in October, 2006[2]. The result was announced on 20th October, and 1,005 from 1,086 returned ballots (out of an electorate of 1,222) favoured the name change to the bilingual version[3], [4]. Éamon Ó Cuív has stated that he has no legal powers to act on the results of the plebiscite, but that if Kerry County Council comes to him with a request that he can act on within the law, he would be willing to give it serious consideration.
For a local account of the controversy over the name from opponents of the Minister, see www.dinglename.com: How Dingle lost its name
See also
