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THE TOTAL NUMBER of trips to Ireland made by tourists in the past 12 months has increased by 2.7 per cent, according to newly released figures by the Central Statistics Office.
The number of trips to Ireland increased by 30,600 in the period between December 2011 to February 2012, compared with the same period 12 months earlier.
Trips by British tourists increased by 6.6 per cent to 577,600 during that period, while trips by residents of other European countries increased by 0.1 per cent to 372,100.
There was a fall of 4.3 per cent in the number of trips made by visitors from North America to Ireland between December 2011 and February 2012, with 128,900 visits to the country during that period.
Overseas trips made by Irish people also fell by 1.7 people to 1,143,400, according to the figures.
However, the total number of trips made by Irish residents, including both trips overseas and within Ireland, during that period increased by 0.5 per cent to 2,289,300 when compared with the same period twelve months earlier.
The Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar welcomed the data, saying that the year had already gotten off to a “positive start”.
We still have a long way to go to restore visitor numbers back to pre-boom levels, and some markets have performed better than others. In particular, the strong performance from Great Britain, our largest individual market, is very encouraging.
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Is this a suprise to anyone ?
The sign of a good government is not what it can do abroad, it’s the conditions of its own people at home that show it can get its own house in order. At the moment there is a lot of discontent among its people. We currently have the two main parties working in unison and the unrest among the people hasn’t been seen since the civil war. MM said he didn’t accept the criticism from the protestors because he feels we are in a better place than ever before and I believe he is in denial with that statement and that’s scary. Tis worrying times for our little country and its great people.
end of road is near for ffg the wheels have fallen off every can their kicking down the road at this stage,local Irish are emigrating in droves, as local big town in munster absolutely flooded with non Irish shocked yesterday
Not just road units but they’re the ones who rake in the dollars
Shame on them.
Shortages everywhere.
A first world country with third world services at best.
They just do not care.
I love my country its my government I hate.
Shame on them .
I’m afraid there’s a new scandal everyday for FFG, they really have taken their eye off the ball and are continuing to focus on matters abroad. Palestine, trying to be the big lad in the EU Commission, the moral super power of the world and us hundreds of Billions in debt.
They are spending like teenagers that got their first wage packet. As Tommy Tiernan said ‘Money doesn’t suit us’. We are a tiny little island trying to punch way above our weight.
@Dogg: “they have taken their eye off the ball” you say….when have they ever had their eye on the ball ? Only to line their own pockets !
Is there anything there clowns in government have done right besides lining their own and their cronies pockets, health,gardai,defence etc ,all understaffed,
@Brian Molloy: they built a fairly decent bike shelter recently
Spend some of the ‘kerching’ from those speed vans and pay for more staff.
Drew Harris has been a total disaster by all accounts. Martin, Harris,McEntee etc should be dragged in front of an Oireachtas committee to explain their incompetence.
Can’t ‘civilians’ be trained into certain jobs and procedures like accident investigation???
@Athena: ite a response unit …. meaning they would have to be a fully qualified Garda first to be able to drive using lights and sirens to a road fatality….. also they need to be a member so they can preserve the chain of evidence and the crash scene in case it turns into a criminal case …..
@and the hit’s just keep coming: they shouldn’t be driving. We have police helicopters that could take them the majority of the way. Expecting one expert to travel to the other end of the country is farcical and typical of us Irish. Our public sector management are an utter farce.
@and the hit’s just keep coming: don’t need to be a gard to drive a car with lights and sirens .. fire brigade, ambulance etc . in terms of chain of custody .. I’ll point you to the forensic crime lab in kildare .. not staffed by AGS !! absolutely could be filled by a civilian competition .. in the article it states that the comp was discontinued as standards of those that applied (all garda applicants) were not meant. There is a mathematical aptitude element of the application this is most likely what is being referenced here. note the GRA didn’t say they needed more Gards assigned .. just more forensic investigators ..! MANAGEMENT are also allergic to increasing the amount of these people as because they are not Gards they don’t have the same control over them. MANAGMENT DONT LIKE THAT!
and roma knacks roaming the streets to stab people
Why ain’t arsenal on the fkcimg tv??disgusting and Rte needs investigation
@Basildon Joe: Amazon Prime have the rights. Football has truly sold its soul when they put such a massive game behind a pay wall
@Danny O’Mahony: I give up Danny they are shitters doing that to the working man
@Basildon Joe: down with your British garbage,back to Essex for it
Something fundamentally wrong eith jow the public service performs . The leadership of state bodies seem to play musical chairs. One is as incompetent as the other.
It’s clear there’s a crisis in policing. Harris needs to go, and a tough law and order policy be implemented.
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