All new estates in Navan must have Irish names

All new residential housing estates being built in the Navan urban area for the next five years will have to have an Irish name, following a decision taken at a meeting of the local town council last week. Navan Sinn Féin councillor Peadar Tóibín said he was delighted with the support he received for an Irish language initiative at last week's meeting of the council. He said he had lobbied over the last year to insert a clause within the new Navan Development Plan which would see all new housing estates being built in Navan in the next five years being called with an Irish name. Cllr Tóibín said that, over the last five years, "we have seen some estates in Meath being named by builders after the so-called home counties in England. Names such as Hampton Rise and Windsor Downs have little relevance to Meath or the rest of Ireland", he said. The Sinn Fein councillor went on: "This initiative will ensure that all new residential developments will be named in Irish and reflect local placenames, particularly townlands or local names which reflect the landscape, its features, culture or history. It will also help with the development of the Irish language in the town as it will put Irish words in the mouths of locals on a daily basis for free. We have many fine examples of Irish place names in Navan such as An Bóthar Mín, Ard Braccan and the Bóithrín Caol. This initiative will continue that tradition." He added that he was disappointed that Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons of Fianna Fail and Cllr Jim Holloway of Fine Gael had opposed the move, claiming they were out of step with their parties. He added that the Irish language is an inclusive language and is open to everyone, no matter what their background. "Indeed, we have people from New Zealand and Poland attending Conradh na Gaeilge classes in Navan at the moment. Also people from abroad prefer to see locals taking pride in their culture rather than moving towards some bland Anglo-American uniformity. We in Meath are lucky that we have two Gaeltachtaí within our county. We have a number of growing Gaelscoileanna and we have a Gael Coláiste. We should do our best to grow this sector further and lead the way with progressive Irish language initiatives such as this," he said. The move sees Navan Town Council joining two other Irish local authorities, Galway County Council and Shannon Town Council, in the implementation of such an initiative.