DVA ‘ignoring’ townlands in addresses

The Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) office in Coleraine is to receive a dressing down from Fermanagh district councillors over its snub of the county’s townlands.

The issue was raised at the monthly council meeting by Erne East Councillor Brian Mc Caffrey who explained a constituent had been left fuming when his renewed driving licence returned with all his details, minus his townland.

Mr Mc Caffrey said “Given that the government departments are supposed to be protecting townlands it does not look too good that the DVA is omitting townlands on the licences. This man was raging about it”

The council’s decision to tackle the matter head on comes as the county engages in an extensive consultation exercise on rural road names. The one-of-a-kind consultation offers people in Fermanagh the chance to have an input into the road naming process.

It had been recognised that road names recorded with the Land and Property Services in some cases did not reflect the name referred to by the local community. Residents have now been encouraged to give their views on the present unofficial names through the consultation process. During the monthly council meeting local representatives were keen to ensure that the county’s townlands also remained firmly on the map.

Independent councillor, Bernice Swift described the omission as “horrendous” while UUP representative Alex Baird also expressed his desire to ensure Fermanagh’s townlands did not become a thing of the past. “That man has every right to be annoyed about his licence” said DUP councillor, Bert Johnston. “But when you look down the telephone directory people are omitting the townlands themselves. Look down the list of names and you’ll see they are not in the addresses. So much of this is our own fault. But I’ll tell you what, we will sort the whole thing out and preserve our townlands!”

It is interesting to note that Speedyreg’s address is Millwood Lisbellaw if the DVA continues to use Townlands but if they stop using them, it would become Coolane Road Lisbellaw.

Therefore the DVA will need to keep including Townlands.