Limerick rises from writer's `Ashes'

If last week's startling Late Late Show gave the impression of a Limerick still hot and bothered over Angela's Ashes, the amiable, 1,000-odd crowd that queued up for a book signing by author Frank McCourt in the city two days later suggested a different tale.

So did the beaming faces of the Flamingo publicist for Ashes sequel, 'Tis, and busy bookseller Frank O'Mahoney, whose O'Connell Street store notched up "spectacular" sales on Sunday, including around 500 hardback copies of 'Tis, audio tapes of the book, and more than 100 paperback copies of Ashes.

"Frank McCourt and Angela's Ashes are great for business," said Mr O'Mahoney, who estimates that he has sold up to 6,000 McCourt publications in the last three years.

No-one has tried to quantify the extra business that has been generated in Limerick as a result of Angela's Ashes, but the tourism spin-offs have been considerable in a city which has traditionally found it a challenge to attract visitors.

With Alan Parker's movie version of the book due for release at the end of the year, the city is hoping that it may be set for another spending boom by movie-related visitors in 2000.

"Thousands of tourists have come here in the last few years solely because of Angela's Ashes," said tour guide Mr Michael O'Donnell of St Mary's Action Centre, an enterprising community group based in a city parish. He reckons that he has guided some 3,000 visitors from Ireland and abroad, at £3 or £4 a head, on special Angela's Ashes tours since 1997. The money generated has funded projects helping the elderly and poor of St Mary's parish.

Mr O'Donnell reckons that "at least 85 per cent" of the tourists he has escorted came to Limerick solely because of the book. "The reactions have been amazing. One woman came from England to do the tour, hoping it would inspire her to stay in her marriage to an alcoholic husband," he said. "I've had people from all over Ireland and all over the world," he said.

Hotels, bed and breakfasts and hostels have all shared in the Ashes boom.

Last summer, three years after Ashes was released, the staff at Jury's Hotel in Limerick were still helping to direct many guests to spots like South's Pub and Leamy's school described by McCourt. "A fair percentage of our guests are in Limerick as a result of the book," said Ms Aileen Phelan, the general manager of Jury's.

"Hopefully the movie will generate a lot of new interest next year," said Michael O'Donnell. The cinematography on Alan Parker's picture, starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle, has been reported as outstanding. McCourt said in Limerick last week that he was "more than satisfied" with the early cut he has seen of the film; particularly with its "urban and gritty" feel, Parker's screenplay and the score by John Williams. "It was overwhelming to see your life on screen like that," he added.

While Michael O'Donnell is well prepared for the potential influx of new visitors next year, other groups are still considering how Limerick might capitalise on the movie.

Shannon Development Company, the State body responsible for tourism in the Mid-West region, is planning to produce a brochure for visitors outlining a self-guided Ashes tour around spots described by McCourt, where these still exist.

The company is considering other visitor-related options in response to the movie, said Tourism Development Manager Mr John Leonard.

"The best thing about Angela's Ashes is that it has attracted tourists here, who have then seen how much the city has been transformed for the better," said Mr Leonard.

Shannon Development has also helped co-ordinate visits from a slew of Ashes-inspired journalists who flocked to Limerick to report on the city for leading international media outlets, generating a windfall of free publicity for the Mid-West region.

Ms Maureen Gleeson, author of a recent 250-page report on Limerick's image, conducted at the University of Limerick, believes that the city should prepare to capitalise more on the Ashes phenomenon.

The book, which has sold more than five million copies internationally and been translated into more than 20 languages, is still on many bestseller lists. It has turned one-time waif Frank McCourt into a celebrity and Limerick, to its surprise if not unanimously its delight, into one of the world's most read-about cities of the 1990s.

Ms Gleeson is certain that the movie - and the attendant free publicity for Limerick - represents another significant opportunity.

"What better way to promote the positive side of Limerick today than to get behind Angela's Ashes and piggy-back on the film?" said Ms Gleeson, research executive with Limerick Chamber of Commerce.

She suggested that new visitors could be offered indepth tours highlighting Limerick's social and cultural past, and that other Ashes-related ideas to boost Limerick's profile should be considered.

Ms Gleeson's report, which highlighted the challenges Limerick still faces in overcoming what many locals regard as outdated and unfair negative attitudes to the city, has since been submitted to the co-ordinators of Limerick 2005, a £2 million project to enhance the city's image over the next five years.

Mr Gearoid Costelloe, who is helping to co-ordinate the project on behalf of local development authorities, said that a thriving and confident modern Limerick could turn the publicity as a result of Angela's Ashes into "an opportunity".

"The film will boost tourism and raise the city's profile," added Mr Costelloe, of Grant Thornton consultants.

Limerick 2005, which is including ideas on potential Ashesrelated ventures as part of a wide-ranging upcoming report, is comprised of representatives from Limerick Corporation, Limerick County Council, Limerick Chamber of Commerce, the Limerick Trade and Tourism Association, the Limerick Council of Trade Unions and Shannon Development Company.

Limerick City Manager, Mr Brendan Keating, said: "We are excited about the public that will come to Limerick as a result of the film and we are preparing for the consequences of that reaction."

Meanwhile, McCourt said that he was working on two Limerick-related projects - one which will help mentally handicapped people, and another, with the composer Prof Micheal O'Suilleabhain, to provide a music scholarship at the University of Limerick.