Bordering on the hilarious as Ross forgets the Six Counties
IN a week filled with the usual Leaving Cert frenzy, minister Shane Ross might have struggled to get a H1 in history, geography or maths.
As guest of honour at Tourism Ireland’s midyear results, the tourism and sports supremo started off well enough, highlighting the surge in the number of visitors from North America.
But Brexiting Brits remain a concern, with Ross telling the audience of journalists: “We need to defend our share in Britain which has been declining, and to reassure our important Great Britain visitors that a warm welcome awaits them here, whatever the situation of Brexit.”
(Boss Leo hasn’t been helping on that score with Anglo-Irish relations a tad strained of late.)
But then the howler, when he announced that “research suggests that 80pc of bed nights occur in just five counties. That means we have huge numbers of opportunities — there are 21 counties left”.
Except, of course, that Tourism Ireland markets the whole of the island, established as one of the areas of co-operation in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Cue laughter from the hacks, and a quick about-turn on the podium.
“No, we’re talking Northern Ireland context,” Ross interrupted himself. “There are 32 minus five; there are 27 counties left to explore and exploit,” he said, for those in the audience who were numerically challenged.
In fairness it was a tough crowd, with most journalists eager to quiz him on hockey, sports, cycling infrastructure and VAT — just about anything but rising tourism figures.