Anger as Killarney slammed for ripping off Americans

Larger Text

Print

E-mail

11 Comments

Killarney jaunting cars are a popular tourist attraction.

Tweet

Killarney residents have reacted to furiously to a piece by Irish American journalist Dave Hannigan which lambasted Killarney residents for ripping off American tourists for years.

The piece was also critical of the Irish government’s decision to issue heritage certificates to the Irish diaspora, which Hannigan categorized as a “money grab sponsored by Dail Eireann."

Hannigan went on in the column in the Mail on Sunday to call the government decision "the shameless spectacle of a government department basically turning itself into the bureaucratic equivalent of Killarney", before continuing;

"Bad as it is when avaricious shopkeepers and publicans try to take advantage of sentimental old fools trying to get in touch with their ancestral roots, how much worse is it when the money-grab is sponsored by Dáil Éireann?"

One local businessman said that the journalist owed the town an apology for his remarks: "This is the same kind of nonsense we have listened to for years and it all gets a little bit tiring after a while," said one local accommodation provider.

A spokesman for the Kerry branch of the Irish Hotels Federation also hit out at  Hannigan, saying: "This was cheapskate and cheap shot journalism that reflects no credit on the journalist who penned it or the paper that published it".

Hannigan is based in Long Island, NY, and also writes for several Irish American publications. He is also an established author and his works include De Valera in America and Giants of Cork Sport.

Print

E-mail

Tweet