WORK is ongoing to reclaim Fermanagh’s historic borders by reinstating our county boundary signs.
Over the past decade, since the creation of the Fermanagh and Omagh ‘supercouncil’, the signs that once defined the county border have disappeared.
Gone are the ‘Fermanagh welcomes you naturally’ greetings and signs sporting the county’s crest, which marked a county boundary that dated back thousands of years.
Instead, they have been replaced by generic purple signs marking a district council area that was only created in 2015.
This has been a point of contention over recent years, with fears the county had lost a little of its historic identity and heritage with the loss of the signs.
Refusing to let the issue go, at the February meeting of the Council’s environmental services committee, chairman Cllr John McClaughry once again called for their return.
Cllr McClaughry, pictured below, was responding to a letter from the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), which stated – following a query from the Council on the issue – that it did not provide county signs, but the local Roads team would be happy to work with the Councilto locate any new signs it wished.
Stating it was “disappointing” DfI was not willing to help with funding, Cllr McClaughry called for the Council to explore other funding options – such as tourism grants – to help bring the signs back.
“As somebody involved with genealogy, and people coming back, I think it’s very important that we have our county lines shown,” he said. “For people travelling it’s quite difficult [without the signs].
“Around Irvinestown you can cross in and out of Tyrone a couple of times and if you’re searching for county boundaries and townlands and so on, it makes it very difficult.”
The proposal received warm support from other members of the committee, with Cllr Anthony Feely adding his backing to Cllr McClaughry’s call and Cllr Tommy Maguire stating it was “a very valid suggestion.”
Cllr Maguire said it was “important a county’s own identity is still recognised.”
Cllr Paul Robinson then posed a question the Council officials were unable to answer – who took the signs down in the first place?
Director of environment and place, John News, said it may have been DfI – who has responsibility for taking down roadside signs that may pose a risk – or it could have been the previous, now defunct Department of Environment.
It was agreed that the Council would write back to DfI to seek further clarity on the situation, following a proposal from Cllr Roy Crawford to contact the Department to “shed some light on the mystery.”
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