Sir, – A “fada”, or “accent”, is an essential part of the Irish language. The same is true of accents in French, Spanish and many other languages where markings of various sorts change the sound of the basic letters of the Roman alphabet. They are not there as embellishment: they dictate the correct pronunciation of words, and in some cases can change their meaning.
I often write in Irish, French and Spanish on my computer keyboard, iPad and phone, and have no difficulty inserting accents.
While I accept that the National Transport Authority may have had “technical” difficulties and that sometimes the printing process can scramble accents if the right adjustments have not been made to the software, I suspect that somewhere along the way, someone took the view that accents aren’t really that important. They are.
My passport card and driving licence show the fada in my own surname, so it’s not that difficult! – Yours, etc,
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DOIREANN NÍ BHRIAIN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.