page_title: Road signs in Ireland
section_title: Typefaces and colours
hierarchical_section_title: Road signs in Ireland / Republic of Ireland / Directional signage / Typefaces and colours
context_page_description: Road signs in Ireland do not differ greatly from those used elsewhere in Europe, but there are some differences between those used in the Republic of Ireland and those used in Northern Ireland, including different systems of units used in each jurisdiction.
context_section_description: Directional signage in the Republic of Ireland is fairly similar to the United Kingdom design. All Irish text is in italic print, in lower case lettering with initial letters in capitals. Irish script is inclined at 15 degrees to the vertical. The Irish text is placed above the corresponding English. All English text is in upper case Roman alphabet. The Transport Heavy and Motorway typefaces are used, although the Irish language text uses a distinctive oblique variant, in which letters a are represented by script a (ɑ), and letters i are represented by dotless i (ı) in order better to differentiate them from their accented forms (However, sometimes normal letter i is used). Only the Irish place name is shown if the sign is in the Gaeltacht, or the official name in English is identical to the Irish name or nearly so (for example Dún Laoghaire or Port Laoise). Due to the practice of signposting in both languages, usually a limited number of destinations will be signposted. If a destination can be reached by following a route which is a spur from that route, the destination and route number will be shown in brackets. Also, distances are shown in kilometres.
  Motorway signs use white text on a blue background. Non-motorway national primary routes use white text on a green background, with the specific route number in yellow bold text. Regional and local county roads use black text on white background. Signs to points of interest (services, institutions, tourist sights) have white text on a brown background. Patching (according to the Guildford Rules) is used to show roads of different classification on signs. On all purpose roads, signs for roads whose only destination is a motorway should display the motorway symbol.
caption: White-on-green national road sign
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