asked the Minister for the Environment, having regard to the rapid and substantial growth of Dublin city and the adjoining urban area in the county, the steps being taken by his Department, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned, to improve substantially signposting to different suburbs and arterial roads to, from and within the urban area in order to reduce the considerable confusion and related traffic hazards arising out of a dearth of such signposting.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Signposting.
15.
The provision of informative traffic signs is a function of the road authority concerned. As the Deputy may be aware, a new improved system of such signs for national roads is being implemented by road authorities and is being financed by way of special grants from my Department. The signposting of national primary roads in the Dublin county area has been completed. A scheme of informative signs for the national secondary road N.81 has been prepared and the necessary signs have been ordered by Dublin County Council. Dublin Corporation have provided route number direction signs for national roads and a grant of £7,000 has been allocated this year for the provision of further such signs.
The cost of providing informative traffic signs on roads other than National roads is chargeable to the authority's own resources, including its annual block grant allocation. Road authorities are from time to time reminded of the need to rectify deficiencies in traffic signs. In notifying road authorities of road grant applications for 1981, attention was again directed to the provision and maintenance of traffic signs.
As one proud to be a servant of the people and not an officer, would the Minister agree with me that it is desirable for the people of this country and visitors to it to get where they want to go and that reliance on traffic signs designed in the days of horse-drawn traffic is unlikely to facilitate this objective?
The second question is this: about seven years ago now money was allocated for the establishment in the Department of Local Government, as it was then, of a special division to bring about substantial improvement in road signs. To date there appears to be little evidence of the success of that division. I wonder if the Minister can comment on that?
The last point I want to make is this: having regard to the fact that car tax has now been restored, would the Minister use his good offices to ensure that a very significant slice of the revenue yielded as a consequence will be used to improve the roadsigning all over Ireland, bringing it up to international, and certainly European standards?
Yes, I would agree it is necessary that signposting be as clear and as helpful as possible to travellers on the roads. Certainly the signposts used previously are not now suitable. One aspect of those previous signs was that they were placed at a height that could be seen from the box car as one travelled along the road. Obviously that does not apply now. The division established in my Department, about which the Deputy spoke, is functioning. Even from observation I think the Deputy would agree, and certainly I would hope that there has been a very significant improvement in the quality and number of signposts. I cannot speak about inside Dublin that well because there would be another constraint in erecting signposts inside urban areas, that is, one does not want a proliferation of what are called street furniture on roads. This city is already sufficiently cluttered with dustbins, parking meters and all sorts of other signs. There is already too much on the pavements creating a real difficulty in this respect. Outside the city, certainly on the roads I travel, the quality of signposts and their frequency has been very much improved. The third part of the Deputy's question was?
The Road Fund.
The Deputy can be absolutely assured that I will use whatever little influence I have to get as big a sum of money as possible for my Department in 1982.
For Dublin and Cork?
We will include other places as well. We might throw a few shillings up to Cavan-Monaghan.
I did not think we would need them up there for some time according to the vote this morning.
Arising out of the Minister's reply to the last point made by the former Minister for Finance, would he give this commitment to the already much overburdened motorist—that his payment of the road tax will be used for road construction, signs and lighting, that at least the Government would allocate that sum of money to the road programme?
I do not know what sums of money are involved. But, as I said to Deputy R. Ryan, I will certainly be using whatever influence I have to get as big an allocation as I can from my Department in 1982.
Would the Minister agree that the delay in responding to proposals by local authorities, made in consultation with the Garda authorities in the matter of changing speed limits in towns in the area, is most unreasonable? In one instance there was a delay of three years before there was a response to those proposals. Is the Minister prepared to say that this practice will be changed and that any forthcoming proposals will be dealt with expeditiously?
As far as I am concerned, certainly that would be so, that I would be very happy to deal with them expeditiously. But one must be careful in this regard that what one is doing will hold up in law.
The second point I want to make is that because there were previously complaints about delays in the Department of Local Government, as it was then, some years ago it was decided that the drawing up of by-laws should be handed back to local authorities. That was a good thing. It is done now in consultation with the Garda authorities. They merely come to my Department for rubber stamping — that is an exaggeration of what happens — almost rubber stamping, but that is a good system. If the Deputy knows of any specific instances where the delay has been unreasonable and if he will have his local authority approach me directly, I will have the matter expedited.
In relation to the Minister's statement pertaining to signposts, would he agree that from the tourist point of view regulations whereby roadsigns can be erected by local authorities in Gaeltacht areas in the Irish language only should be changed?
I did not follow the Deputy's question.
At present local authorities are precluded by law from erecting bi-lingual signs in a Gaeltacht area. From the tourist point of view, in towns where the English names are completely different from the Irish version, I feel these signs should be bi-lingual.
If they were they would be torn down.
I am not sure I would agree. I should like to think about it a little. I can see where it would be helpful from the tourist point of view. But in Gaeltacht areas, where it is so necessary for the culture of this country and its language that the Gaeltacht be preserved and allowed to grow — a very delicate plant — we should be very careful in making any change that might hinder that growth.
My point is that the people of the Gaeltacht know where they are going and would be familiar with the area——
There is more to it than that.
For example, if one takes the town of Mount Charles, which in Irish is Teamhnach an tSalainn, there is no association whatsoever.
I would not like to reply here to that. I have a certain amount of sympathy from the point of view of the tourist with what the Deputy is saying, but I would not like to make a change lightly.