Ireland’s and Europe’s only hands on privately owned Military Museum

Welcome to Ireland’s and Europe’s only hands-on privately owned Military Museum with Family Park, Playground and State of the Art Conference facilities (Camping Site opening soon).

Housing US Convoy Military Vehicles with extensive displays on WW1 1916 WW11 Irish Independence, Vietnam, War First Gulf War. Visit our full-scale indoor Trench Cafe and experience Trench life from first hand. Enjoy our delicious coffee food snacks and treats while surrounded by authentic Military artefacts in the unique Trench setting of our very own Sergeant Sullys Café.

Re-enactments Family Fun Days BBQS Halloween and Christmas Events are ongoing all through the year! Why not have your birthday celebrations on site or take a Tank Spin in our Tank or even learn to drive it? So why not join us at one of Ireland’s bestkept secrets today!

The introduction of direct flights from China to Ireland last year has been a real gamechanger.

In the area of screen tourism, we’ve developed ground-breaking partnerships with Lucasfilm and HBO, which have allowed Tourism Ireland to leverage the global phenomena that are Star Wars and Game of Thrones to showcase the island of Ireland, in a new way, to hundreds of millions of fans across the world.

Tell us about your new global campaign:

We’ve just launched a new global campaign – ‘Fill your Heart with Ireland’. It’s being rolled out in over 20 markets around the globe and includes TV, cinema, print, outdoor and online ads, as well as content for social platforms.

Sustainability is the watchword for Tourism Ireland, in 2019 and beyond. We are placing a greater focus on driving growth to less visited attractions and locations, as well as on driving business in the off-peak and shoulder seasons.

We’re working very closely with our partners in Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland, to ensure a seamless experience for today’s tourist. It’s never been more important to ensure that the promise we make in the marketplace matches the wonderful experience on the ground.

Your thoughts on Brexit?

Brexit is the single biggest external challenge that is likely to impact on Irish tourism in the coming months and years. The immediate impact on Irish tourism after the vote in 2016 was the weakening of Sterling, which affected Ireland’s competitiveness – making holidays and short breaks to Ireland more expensive for British visitors.

Tourism Ireland’s message is that it is very much ‘business as usual’; Britain continues to be a very important market for tourism to the island of Ireland, delivering 44% of all overseas visitors and around 25% of all overseas tourism revenue. In 2018, we welcomed around 4.716 million British visitors to the island of Ireland.

Since the Brexit referendum, Tourism Ireland has been monitoring developments closely, to better understand and plan for any implications of Brexit on Irish tourism. We’ve established a Uk-based Brexit taskforce with senior members of the UK and Irish industry. We carry out research in the marketplace and we will be launching a new strategy for the market in 2019.

We continue to highlight the wide variety of things to see and do on holiday here, as well as the ease of getting to the island of Ireland, with almost 238,000 seats by air and 46,000 car spaces on ferries from Britain every week. Competitiveness and the value for money message remain important.

What do you love about Dublin?

Simplicity – being able to cycle to work and walk around town. Watching my kids grow up in a city they want to grow old in.

Your favourite restaurants and pubs?

That’s a question that gets me into trouble! However, I have to mention the Stag’s Head where my college friends and I have been meeting regularly for over 30 years.

A ‘hidden gem’ in Dublin you think we should know about?

The Little Museum of Dublin – but you probably knew that already!