Sir, - I am amazed that Irish tourism is on the way to committing suicide. The plans to penalise tourists for entering Ireland and to add £3 a night for staying in Dublin are lunacy, to say the least.
I am deeply attached to Ireland and return year after year, and I still meet these lovely Irish people who made your country so attractive in the past. A guesthouse in the West with a real family atmosphere, a woman in Galway who is so sweet and who sometimes speaks Irish to me. As she cannot have guests any more, now I stay with her equally kind neighbours and can continue to visit her.
But through the years I have also seen the rubbish and the destruction of the countryside - the bungalow scourge is among the worst of it. That sort of development is banned in most countries. In Belgium they are now demolishing illegal bungalows, after having allowed this blight to go on for decades. I hope those responsible for all this will quickly come to their senses. Cancel these mad plans to fine foreigners for visiting Ireland. This is no "Failte"! Start bringing back what made people return year after year. It is not too late.
When I am on the Isle of Innisfree and see the coast of Ireland appearing I still feel as if I am coming home and I hope that it will stay that way. And people can still be seen crying when the ship leaves Dublin port. - Yours, etc., H. Maenen,
Nijmegen, Netherlands.