In a bid to make non-Irish nationals feel more at home, ex mayor Gerry McLoughlin wants to see the city’s street signs in Polish – and “African”.
At present, all street signs across Ireland are displayed in English, then Irish.
But the ex mayor wants to see Limerick go a step further – and embrace its sizeable population from Europe and Africa by including further translations.
“I am passionate about bringing everyone together. I was an immigrant myself: I have family abroad still in Wales and Australia so I understand what it is like. We have thousands of Poles and other foreign nationals here,” he explained, “I would like to see some Polish and African signs going up,” he said in an interview with the Limerick Leader.
Polish translations for some of the city centre streets include Ulica O’Connell (O’Connell Street), Ulica Re jsy (Cruises Street) and Pó?ksiezyc (The Crescent).
It would not be the first time the Polish language has been thought of as official signage in Ireland: in 2006, Laois County Council sought to include Polish on road signs to reduce the number of fatalities.
But it would be the first time signs in an urbanised area would be translated.
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