Meke yeor mind up time

There is a certain class of gaeilgeoir [fluent Irish speaker] who gets hoity about the accents in written Irish - especially personal names. This is particularly in focus when the poor benighted English fail to put enough fadas in Siún Ní Raghallaigh or Dara Ó Briain. What do the English know? poor cr'atures, they don't have any accents. You'll hear it asserted that á is a completely different letter from a; and failing to accent names correctly is xenophobic or at the very least disrespectful. Well, that's a position I guess on a par with ranting on if someone writes it's when everbode kno its is required.

Before slagging the Brits for not getting the niceties of Irish orthography, it would be nice if Official Ireland could be consistent in the spelinge of toponyms around the country. We've evolved a new route from home to Trá Mhór since the last lockdown. Someone in the family makes this journey, one way or the other, several times every month as the exigencies of elder care, lawn-mowing and beach-combing dictate. Judicious use of bridges built new this century means that we can make the 70km trip in a tad over the hour without breaking any speed limits. 

A few weeks ago I noticed that, within a couple of miles of each other in Orchardstown, you can see two different options for spelling Kilmeadon, Co Waterford. I don't think there is any chance that this will confuse a driver in search of the birthplace of Kilmeaden Red Cheddar cheese.