Catherine Noone » Tourism

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No more taxiing – tourism in the west is taking off again!

Monday, November 21st, 2011

Knock Airport sent confidence in tourism soaring following the announcement of four new routes to Europe today From 2012, Ryanair will now be running regular flights between Knock Airport and Barcelona, Milan, Frankfurt and Paris. First of all, this is great news for inbound tourism into Knock and the west of Ireland and is a testament to the work being done by the team out here. Tourism grew by 10% in 2011, and we want to replicate that in 2012 – this is a good first move

With Lufthansa operating out of Knock Airport from May 2012, in a move that is worth an estimated €1m to the region, it is clear that this Airport is going from strength to strength. Indeed, in August, Knock had its highest number of passengers in a single month. Knock Airport is a good news story, and is a justification of our strategy of consolidating airports and ensuring that we have strong, viable commercial airports in each region.

Ryanair have placed a vote in Knock and the west of Ireland. Tourism is up 10% this year so far, we are laying the foundations to build on this success in 2012 and, personally, I hope to see another 10% leap next year.

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Seanad This Week: September 22nd

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

This week I expressed my disappointment at the news that 22 pieces of art which are owned by a NAMA debtor will be sold in New York and London in November.

The collection includes a precious Irish piece, ironically titled Man Doing Accounts, which was painted by Jack Butler Yeats. It is disappointing that we aren’t auctioning off a piece with such importance to the Irish art industry in Ireland, or at least auctioning it here first.

Our auction houses are struggling like many other businesses, and it is disappointing that NAMA would consider it appropriate to move these pieces to London and New York without considering one of our own auctioneers – after all, these are employers like any other business. Art pieces regularly have reserve prices, and if not sold, could then be passed on to other auction houses, so the idea that they may be sold cheaply here doesn’t stand to reason either.

I would like to see a greater effort to keep our works in this country, though it seems we are content to not even be seen to make an effort. It would help our auctioneers, help employment in the nation and maybe even help keep some of the art here”.

I can only hope that – if such an event were to come to pass again – there would be greater consideration given to auctioning these pieces in Ireland first, and giving us first option, before then moving to international markets.

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