Friday News-Dump: Government Announces St Patrick’s Day Trips
Read more about: Uncategorized 
In a move that smeels eerily of news dump, in between the Friday lull and the Green Party’s announcment filled conference opening, the government released the destinations for the St Patrick’s Day trips by Ministers in Government. Eamon Ryan goes coast to coast while Trevor Sargent enjoys the haute cuisine of Paris. Full list below the fold – is this the year we need them to go on a full-on hard sell of Ireland as a business desintation? It sure looks like they have cut some trips compared to last year.
Love the headline of the press release “Government Uses St Patrick’s Day to Deliver a Strong Economic and Marketing Message to Global Markets”
All credit to them a rough estimate suggests there is a much slimmer tour schedule compared to last year’s 36 trips (at a cost of €500,000) at under half the number heading abraod. .
Full list of Government trips for St Patrick’s Day:
Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin – New York and Washington DC
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan – London
Minister for Agriculture and Food Brendan Smith – Munich, Berlin & Dusseldorf
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey – Toronto
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan – San Francisco and New York
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív – Sydney, Brisbane & Melbourne
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen – Houston
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin – Philadelphia and Atlanta
Attorney General Paul Gallagher – Seattle
Minister of State Pat Carey – Boston
Minister of State Barry Andrews – Mumbai and New Delhi
Minister of State Trevor Sargent – Paris
Minister of State Jimmy Devins – Chicago
Minister of State Peter Power – Birmingham
Minister of State John McGuinness – Edinburgh and Glasgow
Minister of State Billy Kelleher – Rome and Milan
Okay, let me try and get this straight. FF would have us believe that the Paddy’s day trips they’ve taken over the past decade have all been excellent marketing opportunities for Ireland Inc, but now, when we need investment more than ever before, they think the responsible thing is to cut down on such trips.
Why the hell do they MSM let these gobshites get away with talking out of both sides of their mouths? Either the government was wrong to waste our money on pointless trips abroad in the past, or they’re missing out on a massive opportunity now. You can’t have it both ways.
I still dont understand why the Attorney General needs to represent the government abroad. They can argue all they want that it’s a good marketing event for the nation but what the hell can the Attorney General do by flying around the world telling people to come invest in Ireland. Is the message “Come to Ireland, crime is so low we dont need our Attorney General”