EU style number plates;

junkyard · 22-11-2005 12:46am #1

Why is it that the Irish style number plates have the counties spelt out in Irish and the actual reg. number spells out the the county in English? i.e. 01-D-**** and Baile Atha Cliath written on top. Some counties are O.K. like Cork spelt Corcaigh. I think that if its D on the number plate it should have Dublin written on the number plate and so on. What does everyone think?

dingding · 22-11-2005 12:50am

What do other EU countries do.

Silvera · 25-11-2005 10:28pm

Most other EU countries don't have any script above their reg numbers, except (off the top of my head) - the Isle of Man.
The IOM introduced 'EU style' plates in 1995 (got the idea from the many Irish cars which visit the island each summer

) and either have 'Isle Of Man' or 'Ellain Vaninn' above the reg number.

(Incidentially, many IOM residents depend on RTE for their daily news ! (no BBC coverage on some parts of the island))

When our plates were in the planning stage (i.e. pre-1991) the Irish language lobby groups wanted the reg letters (e.g. 'WW', 'D', etc etc) to be spelt out 'as gaeilge' on the plate. (i.e. 'Cill Mhantain' 'Baile Atha Cliath, etc)
This would have lead to huge-sized plates and the idea was totally impractical.

Therefore, the compromise was reached of putting the county name 'as gaeilge' over the reg number.

Silvera.

Silvera · 25-11-2005 10:35pm

Isle Of Man plates ..........

junkyard · 25-11-2005 10:44pm

Interesting, it seems the Irish language looby group always seem to have the final say in everything.:rolleyes:

Capt'n Midnight · 26-11-2005 12:18am

Seeing as how the Letters used are the Initial letter of the County and if a second letter is used it's usually the last letter ( Tipp being the obvious exception) it would be confusing to do as Gaeilge.

I remember there was someone going around with BAC plates.
Even if justified - BAC had at least one too many characters AND the last letter is H :rolleyes:

BH Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath
CA Contae Chill Dara
CH Contae Cheatharlach
CH Contae Chill Chainnigh
CI Contae Chorcaí
CI Contae Chiarraí
CN Contae an Chabháin
CN Contae Chill Mhantáin
CR Contae an Chláir
DL Contae Dhún na nGall
GE Contae na Ghailliamhe
HI Contae na hIarmhí
LE Contae Laoise
LH Contae Luimnigh
LM Contae Liatroma
LN Contae Loch Garman
LT Contae Longfoirt
LU Contae Lú
ME Contae Mhaigh Eo
MI Contae na Mí
MN Contae Mhuineacháin
PE Contae Phort Láirge
RN Contae Ros Comáin
SH Contae Shligigh
TN Contae Thiobraid Árann ( Thuaidh TH / Theas TS ( TN / TS would both be TT ! ) )
UI Contae Uíbh Phailí

mackerski · 26-11-2005 1:47am

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

I remember there was someone going around with BAC plates.
Even if justified - BAC had at least one too many characters AND the last letter is H :rolleyes:

It was worse than that. He had BÁC. Muppet.

Dermot

IrishRover · 26-11-2005 9:58am

As far as I remember it was some woman who started a case demanding that it was her constitutional right to have BAC instead of D on her registration plate. The county name above the reg number was brought in as a compromise after this. Again as far as I remember, I think this started to appear on reg plates in 1991.

bp_me · 26-11-2005 10:14am

The regulations apply to any vehicle registered after 1st february 1991, despite being brought into effect in 1993.

johnnyrotten · 26-11-2005 10:15am

wrote:

I think that if its D on the number plate it should have Dublin written on the number plate and so on. What does everyone think?

If its not broken , don't fix it!

Imposter · 26-11-2005 11:02am

dingding wrote:

What do other EU countries do.

Germany have some letters for your city/area and then a letter/number combination. Austria has similar but the provincial shield is between the area letter(s) and the rest of the numbers/letters.

The plates are given to the person though and not the car so you don't have the silly reg year like you do in Ireland. If you wanted, and you owned a car continuously, you could have the same reg plates your whole life.

Hagar · 26-11-2005 11:19am

When the plates were first introduced in 1987 they simply had a "D" for Dublin (insert other letters where appropriate), there was no Irish wording above. Irish language speakers objected to this and pointed out that they had a legal right to carry out any and all official business in the State's official language Irish so to force the issue many people put "BAC" on their plates as a protest to highlight the flaw in the licencing system. A compromise was reached and the "English" letter was kept but supplemented by the name of the county in Irish in small letters above it on the plate. An admirable compromise.

unkel · 26-11-2005 2:08pm

Hagar wrote:

Irish language speakers objected to this and pointed out that they had a legal right to carry out any and all official business in the State's official language Irish

Hagar wrote:

A compromise was reached and the "English" letter was kept but supplemented by the name of the county in Irish in small letters above it on the plate

And so they caused my car to fail the NCT :rolleyes:

They can póg mo thóin

Hagar · 26-11-2005 6:00pm

unkel wrote:

And so they caused my car to fail the NCT :rolleyes:

And just how did "they" do that? Did "they" pesonalise your plate?
Did "they" order up sepecial ones that said Fiat Punto or VW Golf or whatever?

BTW why do you have Baile Atha Cliath in your sig if you don't want it on your plate.
BTW your sig is too big please change it or it will be SIGPOed.

testicle · 26-11-2005 6:22pm

Look at the extract of his number plate in his sig. See it's kinda faded. Well that's why it failed.

Jeez, some people these days!

Hagar · 26-11-2005 6:36pm

I didn't realise that was his licence plate. I thought it was a roadsign. I'd go back to the garage with that. A licence plate should be good for the life of a vehicle.

Silvera · 27-11-2005 3:38pm

Hagar wrote:

A licence plate should be good for the life of a vehicle.

In an ideal world it would be!

BTW, has anybody ever come across transparent number plate covers in Ireland ?

They are very popular in Oz and NZ - every other car down there has 'em !

(N.B. - they are only used over metal plates, not acrylic plates.)

BonnieSituation · 02-03-2008 11:28pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Seeing as how the Letters used are the Initial letter of the County and if a second letter is used it's usually the last letter ( Tipp being the obvious exception) it would be confusing to do as Gaeilge.

I remember there was someone going around with BAC plates.
Even if justified - BAC had at least one too many characters AND the last letter is H :rolleyes:

BH Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath
CA Contae Chill Dara
CH Contae Cheatharlach
CH Contae Chill Chainnigh
CI Contae Chorcaí
CI Contae Chiarraí
CN Contae an Chabháin
CN Contae Chill Mhantáin
CR Contae an Chláir
DL Contae Dhún na nGall
GE Contae na Ghailliamhe
HI Contae na hIarmhí
LE Contae Laoise
LH Contae Luimnigh
LM Contae Liatroma
LN Contae Loch Garman
LT Contae Longfoirt
LU Contae Lú
ME Contae Mhaigh Eo
MI Contae na Mí
MN Contae Mhuineacháin
PE Contae Phort Láirge
RN Contae Ros Comáin
SH Contae Shligigh
TN Contae Thiobraid Árann ( Thuaidh TH / Theas TS ( TN / TS would both be TT ! ) )
UI Contae Uíbh Phailí

I'm sorry for the bump here. But I came across this and I was reading about this a few weeks ago on the Irish Times Archive from circa 1986 when the proposals were put forward to change the licencing system in 87.

Another proposal which would have worked out at the time and would have worked out okay was as below:

AC Áth Cliath
CD Cill Dara
CL Ceatharlach
CC Chill Chainnigh
CH Corcaigh
CI Ciarraí
CN An Cabhán
CM Cill Mhantáin
CR An Clár
DG Dún na nGall
GE Gaillaimh
IM An Iarmhí
LS Laois
LH Luimneach
LM An Liatrom
LG Loch Garman
LF An Longfort
LU An Lú
ME Maigh Eo
MI An Mhí
MN Muineacháin
PL Port Láirge
RC Ros Comáin
SH Sligeach
TA Tiobraid Árann
UF Uíbh Fhailí

There was also talk of keeping letters back for northern counties also just in case a reunification miracle ensued.
FM [Fear Manach], TE [Tír Eoghain], AM [Ard Mhaca], AM [Aontroim], DE [Doire], DN [An Dún].

Just thought I'd let ye know anyhow.

Guy:Incognito · 02-03-2008 11:33pm

3 years, good work.:)

Cionád · 02-03-2008 11:36pm

What a random post resurrection!

Interesting too!

Oilrig · 02-03-2008 11:42pm

I was involved in this circus when it happened. Hagar's explanation is correct.

colm_mcm · 02-03-2008 11:45pm

Hagar wrote: »

And just how did "they" do that? Did "they" pesonalise your plate?
Did "they" order up sepecial ones that said Fiat Punto or VW Golf or whatever?

BTW why do you have Baile Atha Cliath in your sig if you don't want it on your plate.
BTW your sig is too big please change it or it will be SIGPOed.

I take it this was before Unkel got promoted?

Guy:Incognito · 02-03-2008 11:49pm

Could we (the government) not have just sent out one of the rangers to off all the Irish speaking nazi's and put an end to this rubbish before it started?

Hagar · 02-03-2008 11:51pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

I take it this was before Unkel got promoted?

It may even be before I was promoted.

BonnieSituation · 03-03-2008 12:01am

Stekelly wrote: »

3 years, good work.:)

Cheers. Ah you know how it is with this place. You come on looking for one tidbit of info and before you know it you have 16 tabs open and so on.

EU style number plates;

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