A recent building boom in the border county has seen the completion of housing estates with names such as 'Shrewsbury', 'Ashford Downs' and 'Twin Oaks'. People in the area have become so outraged that Cavan County Council has discussed taking measures to prevent the increase in these 'soap opera' names.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that one development recently built in Cavan was initially called 'Westminster Gardens' but the developers were forced to change the name as a result of local outrage.

"We are getting estates built all over Cavan that have totally anglicised names that are not part of the local heritage, " said Fine Gael councillor Joe O'Reilly. "Developers are using exotic and inappropriate names as a marketing and sales technique and this must stop."

After the issue was raised at a recent Cavan County Council meeting it was decided that a placenames committee should be established to curb the problem. Terry Argue, a councillor on Cavan Town Council, has warned that immediate action needs to be taken or else Cavan will be left with new estates that have no relationship with the area. "This practice has to stop as so many of the new names have nothing in common with the culture and history of the area."

An Taisce shares the concerns of the councillors in Cavan and across the country "about the use of absurd generic placenames of estates", said Ian Lumley, the organisation's environmental spokesman. "Names such as 'Downs' which originated in the south of England are being used in Ireland now, which is absurd given that we have such a rich placename history.

There are many areas in rural Ireland that have names on individual fields yet it now seems as if we are moving towards the sort of Anglo-American suburbia that is evident in 'Wisteria Lane'."

An Taisce has raised concerns about the use of different types of trees in estate names even though many of the trees are not even native to the area. "People need to realise that the current building boom is part of the legacy we are going to leave to the future, so it has to stop, " said Lumley. "We need better advanced consultation with the placenames commission, and to avoid English placenames in favour of names that reflect the country's rich heritage."

One could be forgiven for thinking that Cavan was still covered in woodlands given the names of some of the new developments in the area . . .

The Beeches, The Willows, The Elms, The Hawthorns, The Hazels and Twin Oaks.

Councillor Paddy Conaty has accused developers of "glorifying estates with these names" in their attempts to sell more houses. "We are anxious that developers should have to consult with public representatives over the names of housing estates as part of the planning process to ensure that they are not given these ridiculous names, " he said.

Elsewhere, Galway City Council has attempted to ensure local estate names are in keeping with the culture and heritage of the area with its policy that all new housing estates in the city must be given a name in Irish.

"We have made exceptions in some cases where there might be an estate built on the site of a well-known house in the area that has a familiar name, " said a spokesman for Galway County Council. "However, about 95% of the time we look for an Irish name on an estate, especially in Gaeltacht areas, as Galway is the capital city of the Gaeltacht."