A date has been set for a plebiscite to attempt to change the name of An Daingean to Dingle Daingean Ui Chuis. However the electorate will first have to be identified.
Because the electoral area within the town boundary takes in parts of townlands "it will be necessary to identify the electorate independently of the normal enumeration process for the register of electors", director of corporate services John D Flynn told the council yesterday.
Mr Flynn said this would entail a survey of up to 15 townlands and parts of townlands, as well as rated occupiers. A substantial amount of ground work would have to be carried out before the list of qualified electors could be put on public display.
The nine-step process will begin next month, and will include adverts in the local press and the roll-out of ballot papers in early October. The opening of the ballot boxes is expected on October 20th.
Meanwhile, a delegation of councillors is to meet Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív on June 27th. Mr Ó Cuív has said the plebiscite will not have legal standing.
There has been a bitter protest in the west Kerry town, particularly from tourism interests, since the implementation of the Placenames Order of the Official Languages Act 2004 which changed the official name of the Gaeltacht town from Dingle to An Daingean.
The change affects road signs, most Ordnance Survey maps and Acts of the Oireachtas.
Councillors have been told that a plebiscite will not reverse the Placenames Order.
Despite this they last month passed a resolution proposing "a plebiscite be taken to ascertain whether the majority of the qualified electors in the non-municipal town of An Daingean consent to an application being made to the Government for an order changing the name of An Daingean to Dingle Daingean Ui Chuis".
Fine Gael councillor Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald welcomed the plebiscite.
He said the bilingual name was very historic. Dingle was recorded hundreds of years before Cromwell and was probably the name Spaniards gave to the harbour town. Daingean Ui Chuis, the fort of Hussey, was the traditional Irish name.
However, Mayor of Kerry Toireasa Ferris said she was embarrassed An Daingean was the only town now looking to revert to the bilingual name.