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Dublin! Dublin! Dublin! everything appears these days to be centred in and around Dublin. A plague on our Capital city say the dwellers from “Beyond the Pale.”
It now appears that this city formally known as “The Pale” is being promoted as a place for “Fun and Craic” in a new solo run using €1 million of our Tourism campaign funding.
 "The Pale" The word “pale ” (An Pháil) derives ultimately from the Latin word palus, meaning a stake, used to support a fence and from this came the figurative meaning of boundary and eventually the phrase “beyond the pale” as something outside the boundary of an area from Dundalk to Carrickmines Castle, Dublin known today as gullible “Rural Ireland.”
Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin TD said that this new radio and online campaign by Tourism Ireland would be seen by an audience of over 12 million, British tourists. She correctly states that Britain is the largest single source market for visitors to the island of Ireland and provides more than half of all visitors to the island. This campaign will involve direct marketing and social media initiatives, as well as promotions with tour operators and air and sea carriers. It will capitalises on the British market and intensively promote Dublin to the British holidaymaker.
Frank Magee of Dublin Tourism states: “The capital city attracted 1.5 million visitors from Britain last year, which resulted in five million bed nights, but losing its market share in Britain. Dublin has been the driver in Irish tourism, bolstering the Irish figures in recent years and there’s a realisation that if Dublin doesn’t do well, Ireland doesn’t do well.”
What a load of verbal diarrhea Mr Magee. Ireland’s false reputation of being an expensive holiday destination is spread by Tourists who spend too much time in Dublin drinking €3.50 cups of coffee served by staff who do not speak English .
Come on down to Tipperary folks if you want a holiday offering value for your money. Thurles is the ancestral home of your head of state, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and it is here you can experience friendly relaxation, carefree fun and craic, your children can run wild and run free, the air is clean and you can find your car still parked where you left it the night before.
It would appear rural Irish taxpayers, for far to long, have been the silent and subservient suppliers of ‘money on demand’ to support Dublin tourism, so let us keep things in perspective remembering that in 2009 the Irish Hotels Federation represented almost 1,000 hotels and guesthouses throughout the whole country, which in turn employ over 59,000 people. It seems only proper that those beyond the Pale should like their fair slice of the tourism promotion cake.
How Much Money Was Spent Promoting Our Capital City Dublin In The Past Ten Or So Years?
€5m for “The Monument of Light” or “Spire Of Light” erected in O’Connell Street, better known by the names: ‘The Spike’, ‘The Stiletto in the Ghetto’, ‘The Erection at the Intersection’, ‘The Poker next to Croker’ and ‘The Stiffy in the Liffey’. At the time of its erection on O’Connell Street in 2003, the Spire Of Light was described as “self-cleaning”, but Dublin’s city council now concede that its maintenance cost €205,000 last year and will increase to at least €218,000 this year, and thats before they pick up a discarded chip bag.
Continue reading Dublin – A Plague On Your City Says Rural Ireland
 Passport Scandal Figures released show that there are 57,516 passport applications waiting to be processed in Dublin and Cork passport offices, but a new service has been introduced to prioritise applications for people with immediate travel plans within three days. The cost of this new service to the taxpayer however has not been disclosed.
North Tipperary Fine Gael TD, Deputy Noel Coonan stated:
“Passport applications with ‘absolute proof of travel’ are now guaranteed to be processed within three working days. Applicants should make contact with the passport service and provide proof where applicable. While the backlog is still hugely excessive at 57,516 as of July 6th, and the Government is still struggling to alleviate the problem, at least a new fast turnaround time has been introduced. Additional temporary staff have commenced work in the passport service in the last few weeks to clear the backlog and while this is welcome news, I’m disappointed that the Government did not appoint extra staff before an enormous backlog had formed and the problem had already snowballed. Until now, the fastest turnaround time was open only to applicants who needed to travel for urgent humanitarian reasons but this new service will prioritise applications for people with immediate travel plans.”
Information released by the Foreign Affairs Minister also revealed that it is taking eight weeks to process applications received through the ordinary post channels. Passport demand is now running at 14% higher than this time in 2009. Unfortunately, the Minister was unable to confirm how many North Tipperary people are waiting for their passports to be processed.
Of the 57,516 applications waiting to be processed, 12,400 of these were received by the Passport Office in Cork. Applications submitted via the Passport Express service (Swiftpost in the Republic and NIPX in the North), available through local post offices, are being processed within 20 working days. This 20 working day guarantee is kept under review. There appears to be no difference in waiting times for a Passport Renewal or First Time Applications.
But wait for it – Yes, you have guessed correctly, an additional fee to those seeking passports, may apply in respect of such new prioritised applications.
 Clonoulty/Rossmore Macra na Feirme is once again proud to announce details of it’s 2010 International Miss Macra Festival, to be held this year from Thursday 29th July to Monday 2nd August.
Now in it’s 39th year, this popular festival has continued to go from strength to strength. This years festival will see girls coming from all across Ireland to compete for the honour of becoming Miss Macra 2010 and taking over from the 2009 winner Edel Ronan from the Carbery region in Co Cork.
The festival committee have once again chosen the luxurious Dundrum House Hotel, which boasts a top quality golf course and leisure centre, as its venue. This oasis in the Golden Vale provides the perfect escape for those of you seeking relaxation and fun during this forthcoming August bank holiday weekend.
The committee send a huge ‘Thanks You‘ to all their sponsors, host families, local businesses and especially to Dundrum House Hotel, Michael’s Jewellers Thurles, The Nu Du Lounge, Clonoulty, and to Tipp Co-Op in Tipperary Town, to name but a few.
The festival will return to the heart of the community on Thursday 29th July with the annual traditional Ceilli and welcoming session, for the contestants in Clonoulty Community Hall. Here the contestants will meet with their host families, latter who accept them into the bosom of their families for the duration of the weekend festival. Host families are a very central part of this strong community based festival and and are made up solely of families who have long standing connections with the festival, assuring each contestant a warm welcome.
Continue reading International Miss Macra Festival 2010 In Tipperary
 The Swiss Cottage Cahir As part of the 200-year anniversary of the iconic Swiss cottage situated in Cahir, Co Tipperary, a family day will be held tomorrow.
The Swiss cottage was built around 1810 at Kilcommon, Cahir, County Tipperary. The building is a very fine example of cottage ornée, or ornamental cottage. It was originally part of the estate of Lord and Lady Cahir, and used mainly as a hunting and fishing lodge and for entertaining guests. The cottage was probably designed by Anglo-Welsh architect John Nash 1752-1835, famous for his designing of much of Regency London.
John Nash came to work in Ireland as an architect after 1793 and also designed St Paul’s Church of Ireland church in Cahir, which was built in 1818 and one of only two known Nash designed churches to survive.
Cahir, may have been built by Richard Butler, 12th Baron Caher, 1st Earl of Glengall (1775-1819), who married in 1793, Emily Jeffereys, daughter of James St John Jeffereys of Blarney Castle, Co.Cork. Milady Cahir is referred to by Napoleon Bonaparte’s Josephine ( Joséphine de Beauharnais) in connection with the Château de Malmaison, latter formerly her residence and was from 1800 to 1802 the headquarters of the French government.
The Swiss Cottage, after many years of shameful neglect, was fully and painstakingly restored by the OPW starting in 1985 and was opened to the public again in 1989.
The family day will include an angling demonstration, guided woodland walks and demonstrations of traditional crafts such as thatching and stone carving. Admission for the day is free and programme of events start at 12.00 noon tomorrow until 5.00pm. If you are out and about for a leisurely drive this weekend, this event is well worth a visit.
Our local water ways, namely the river Suir, which flows through the town of Thurles and the Cabragh Wetlands on the outskirts of the town, are particularly attractive at this time of year.
The native White Water Lily (Nymphaea alba) and the invasive Yellow flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) are in full bloom in Cabragh Wetlands, while on the river Suir our year round resident Mute Swans (Dan and Doris) have finally introduced their surviving three cygnets, hatched in mid May, to the local residents.
The male (called a Cob), and the female (called a Pen) birds, usually attempt to mate for life, although it is not true to say that if one of the birds were to die, that the other would necessarily pine away. It is very possible for an adult bird to find an alternative mate.
Their nest is a huge mound of mixed material, normally assorted vegetation, consisting of sticks dried grasses and rushes, are constructed at the water’s edge. The nest is built by the female, while the male supplies the materials.
The female lays up to seven eggs between late April and early May. Both sexes incubate the eggs, which hatch within 35-41 days. The young birds (called cygnets) sometimes ride playfully on their parents’ backs as seen in this video clip.
The youngsters remain with the adult birds for four or five months before being driven from the breeding ground in mid Autumn.
Swans normally find enough food in the wild without supplementary feeding. It is only in freezing weather that extra food can be helpful. Many people like feeding bread to swans and while this is unlikely to do them any real harm in the long term, it is no substitute for the proper diet that the birds themselves will seek out. Grain, such as wheat, and vegetable matter, especially lettuce and potatoes, can be fed to swans.
Food should be thrown into the water to avoid encouraging the young birds onto the bank, thus putting their lives in danger.
A visit to Cabragh Wetlands is such a peaceful experience and for those who enjoy a closeness with nature, it is well worth a visit, particularly in the evening time.
Music used in the video clip is by Johannes Brahms, entitled “The Cradle Song”.
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