Members of a Washington-based committee that raised $15,000 to bring the Jeanie Johnston Famine ship to the US capital have accused Tourism Ireland of ignoring its members at the ship's welcoming reception.
The chairman of the Jeanie Johnston Committee, Mr Pat Troy, said Tourism Ireland did not invite any of the 100 committee members to the reception which was held last week when the ship docked near the city centre.
The criticism follows that of some Irish-American members of the Democratic Party, who said they were also excluded.
A spokesman for Tourism Ireland's New York office said the invitations for the reception were partly organised by Mr Edward Gillespie, a Washington lobbyist and leading Republican Party strategist.
Mr Gillespie, who made a speech at the reception welcoming the Jeanie Johnston, strongly denied any bias towards Democrats and said leading Democratic members of Congress were invited to the reception.
He added that Mr Jack Quinn, his partner in the Quinn Gillespie lobbying firm, is a former Clinton White House counsel.
The firm co-sponsored the Jeanie Johnston visit with Tourism Ireland.
However, Mr Troy, a Virginia restaurateur, claimed that none of the Jeanie Johnston committee was invited to the reception, although it collected more than $15,000 in less than four weeks for the project.
He said the committee had planned to celebrate the Jeanie Johnston with a gala dinner and a fireworks display and had arranged for corporate sponsors to assist with school trips to the ship.
"Tourism Ireland still did not invite the committee to the reception where the ship was docked, and we didn't get an invite to a reception in the Irish embassy the following night," he said.