Tourism Minister defends Paddy's Day junkets

Minister Mary Hanafin pictured with Eugene Downes, Culture Ireland, actor Gabriel Byrne, author Colum McCann and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at the launch of Imagine Ireland on Friday

The Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin has confirmed that preparations are proceeding for members of the government to travel overseas for St Patrick’s Day, despite the likelihood that it could be in the final days of a general election campaign.

Speaking in NewYork on Friday, the Minister accused Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny of being “far too cynical about the importance of St Patrick’s Day”. The Opposition leader had argued that trips by ministers would be viewed as a “cynical swansong” by the public, and claimed some foreign leaders might not wish to meet lame-duck ministers, who could be out of office just weeks later.

“We should be all out there taking this opportunity to promote Ireland,” Minister Hanafin said, “St Patrick’s Day is our opportunity – any other country in the world would kill for it.”

“If the leader of the Opposition wants to go as well, I don’t see any difficulty,” she added.

She denied that photographs of Taoiseach Brian Cowen with US President Barack Obama in the White House, would sprinkle a little stardust on the closing stages of a Fianna Fail campaign. She said that photos of Mr Cowen with Barack Obama had been seen before and would be nothing new for the public. 

“The St Patrick’s Day message this year will be about investment, it will about the strong reputation of Ireland.”

Asked if it would not be better to hold the election before St Patrick’s Day, and allow the foreign trips to be the first big event for a new administration, she said “the message is the same”.

“The message is about Ireland. The message is not about Mary Hanafin. It’s not about Brian Cowen. It’s about Ireland as a place to invest. It’s about Ireland as a place to visit. It doesn’t matter really who the messenger is, it’s the message that is important for St Patrick’s Day.”

She said planning was already underway for the visits, because regardless of who goes, the programs in the host cities are pretty much set. “So for example I’ve attended in New York for a couple of years,” she said, “And there is the program of the Mayor’s breakfast, the Governor’s breakfast, meeting all the political leaders and a huge round of media opportunities.”

She said London was particularly important this year from the point of tourism and she hoped as Minister for Tourism to promote Ireland in the market there. “The planning goes ahead, the programming goes ahead,” she said, “The only thing that has to be slotted in is the individual.”

She said the election date was a matter for the Taoiseach to decide. “But the one thing that should not happen, it should not be on Patrick’s weekend,” she said, “Because we don’t want it to interfere with that.”