Fáilte Ireland insist Louth will be promoted as part of Ireland’s Ancient East tourism initiative

Fáilte Ireland have issued a press release today highlighting the attractions of County Louth as a tourist destination.

It comes after the body omitted the county from their new Ireland’s Ancient East tourism initiative, which was launched yesterday with the aim of bringing 600,000 more visitors here.

The initial press release, maps and videos omitted the Wee County from inclusion, saying the new initiative – which is hoped will rival the Wild Atlantic Way – started in the Boyne Valley and ended in Cork.

Fáilte Ireland were forced into an embarrassing apology earlier today when Gary Breen spoke at a Cross Border Tourism Conference in Dundalk.

They now say that “Ireland’s Ancient East is geared to maximise the history and heritage in Louth and bring it to greater international attention by offering visitors a personal experience of 5000 years of history through a relaxing journey of discovery in the beautiful landscape that attracted warring settlers for millennia.

“The key to the initiative’s success in the county will be how the local history is illuminated by local people, communities and tourism stakeholders. To that end, Fáilte Ireland will be meeting and working with local interested parties over the coming months to enlist their support and expertise to bring the project to life locally.”

Speaking today, Paul Keeley, Director of Business Development with Fáilte Ireland, said:

“With the great amount of history and heritage in the North East, ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’ will allow us to seriously build on the assets we have in Louth and encourage visitors not only to visit but to stay longer.

“With attractions such as Mellifont Abbey, Carlingford’s Medieval town, Drogheda’s Cromwellian history, Cúchulainn’s Stone, Monasterboice and Castle Roche – to name but a few – Louth ticks all the boxes with regard to the main themes of Ireland’s Ancient East with ancient, early Christian, Medieval and Anglo-Irish sites all within reach.

“As with the Wild Atlantic Way, this will be an evolving project and, although the brand has now been launched, the hard work now begins. To that end, over the next few weeks and months, Fáilte Ireland will be meeting with tourism operators, local community groups and other interested parties in Louth to work with them and to bring Ireland’s Ancient East alive in this part of the region”.

Mr Keeley added: “Ireland’s Ancient East was very much to the fore in talks with overseas operators yesterday and they are very enthusiastic about selling the new proposition to their customers. I appreciate that there were some concerns that Louth did not seem to feature heavily on the illustrative map at yesterday’s launch but I can assure all our stakeholders in the county that we will be doing all we can to ensure that Louth is on every visitor’s itinerary as we roll out this project overseas.”

Mullen calls on Sinn Féin not to undermine McConville inquiry

Senator Rónán Mullen

Independent European election candidate Senator Ronan Mullen has called on Sinn Féin not to attack or undermine the investigation into the murder of Jean McConville.

A number of Sinn Féin representatives have been hitting out at the PSNI since party leader and Louth TD Gerry Adams was arrested for questioning into the 1972 murder last night.

The party claim the timing of the questioning is “politically motivated” but Senator Mullen – who is appealing for votes from the people of Louth – claims it would be wrong to undermine the McConville family’s pursuit of justice for the mother of 10’s killing during the Troubles.

For Sinn Fein to state that the arrest is politically motivated is unbelievable,” Senator Mullen said.

“The long-running investigation into the heinous murder of mother of ten Jean McConville should not have to pause until Sinn Féin and its candidates have the election out of the way. If they expect that, it beggars belief. If it expects the PSNI to postpone its investigations until after the elections, Sinn Féin is itself seeking to politicise the arrest of Gerry Adams.”

“The investigation of crimes must not defer to election timetables to suit Sinn Fein or any other party. It shows how out of touch political party leadership can become that they should think otherwise. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, who was vocal last evening on this issue, would have been the first to condemn Fianna Fáil if, for example, they had asked for the Anglo Irish trial to be postponed until after the election.

“The reality is that the PSNI needs to talk to Gerry Adams to further its investigation at this time. Any person holding public office should be more than willing to assist.”

 

“The McConville family have waited for 30 years. It would be an insult to justice to require them to wait even a day longer, simply to suit the Sinn Féin party’s electoral strategy,” Senator Mullen concluded.