Madam, - While it was encouraging to read (Motors, March 14th) that the National Roads Authority is about to embark on a €60 million signage programme for national roads, the situation in regard to non-national roads is far from reassuring.
Despite a pledge in the Programme for Government to put in place a five-year plan to ensure that non-national roads were properly signposted, it appears that little progress has been made. Almost unbelievably, although €21.5 million was allocated to the programme between 2003 and 2006, only a quarter of the amount was spent "due to uncertainty over the rules of Irish placenames in signs".
Against this absurd background it is not surprising that, in the words of the NRA chief executive, signposting around the country is very haphazard while, despite highlighting the problem again and again over the years, the Irish Hotels Federation continues to receive complaints from frustrated tourists.
It must surely be obvious by now that, if signposting in this country is ever to be brought up to a standard commensurate with the needs of present-day traffic levels, it must be taken completely out of the hands of local authorities and handled by some national agency or other. The days of the horse and buggy are long gone. - Yours, etc,
M.D. KENNEDY, Mount Saint Anne's, Milltown, Dublin 6.