Donegal County Council is urging those responsible for covering English placenames on road signs with paint to cease immediately.
Describing the practice as vandalism, they say anyone with knowledge of those carrying out the defacing of signage should report the matter to their local Garda station.
Responding to a question from Cllr Michael Mc Clafferty, officials say there has been a significant level of vandalism of road signs in certain parts of Donegal in recent years, including painting various symbols or obscuring placenames written in English with paint.
In the vast majority of cases, they say, this signage is fully in compliance with the Council’s obligations under official languages legislation.
The reply states that as well as being illegal to deface any such signage, it is unsightly and confusing to road users not familiar with the area and dependent on directional signage to travel across the county to various tourism locations. This is counter-productive, they add, and creates a very bad impression for the tourism sector that employs upwards of 20,000 people in Donegal.
Where damage is noted, the officials say, it referred to An Garda Siochana for investigation.
A cleaning programme will be initiated this year, but members are being warned the cost of repair works will reduce available budget elsewhere for more productive tasks and actions.
