asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether, in view of confusion and difficulties caused to foreign clients who wish to do business with the various industrial firms in An Uaimh, he will arrange that in future issues of the telephone directory the name of the town will be shown as An Uaimh (Navan).
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - An Uaimh (Navan), Directory Entry.
24.
An Uaimh is the official name of the town. It is not considered necessary to show Navan in addition to An Uaimh in future issues of the Telephone Directory.
Considerable confusion is caused in Navan among business people and industrialists in dealing with foreign customers, and the Chamber of Commerce in Navan is very worried about it. I thought the Department of Posts and Telegraphs might row in with this suggestion which would solve the problem for these people.
There have been no complaints in my Department in regard to this matter. An Uaimh is the official name. It is also the name of the exchange, and foreign firms have no difficulty in getting in touch with it.
Is the Minister aware that nobody calls it An Uaimh but that is the name on official correspondence and it is in the telephone directory as An Uaimh? As Deputy Farrelly says, people who ring from across the water have considerable difficulty in finding out where this place is. Surely it is not too much to ask to have "Navan" put after "An Uaimh"? After all, the Minister must be aware that Navan was the name before An Uaimh was thought of.
I never had any complaints about it.
Could the Minister explain why a few towns like this are described in Irish and the remainder in English?
In this case the urban district council changed the official name of the town to An Uaimh under the Local Government Act, 1898.
They should have more sense.