Ireland has a bumper year of tourism ahead of The Gathering 2013

Can anyone clarify how the Central Statistics Office separate genuine tourist statistics from those thousands of Irish now based abroad who are merely returning on brief visits to Ireland to visit family. Maybe even commuting to and from the UK to work - or even just visiting Ireland to collect the dole. How many are true holidaymakers?

The figures are for the Republic of Ireland, does not include the north of the country

Do these figures on tourism apply to the whole Irish nation or merely to the part of the country which the Dáil continues to misrule? It would be interestning to know how many of the 6.6 million tourists were formerly called "sentimental fools and bloody eejits" by Partitionist politicians who strongly comdemned our quest for peace with justice in the "Wee Six" during the long years of the 'Troubles'

Good! I know some Irish people get tired of the tourists, but it is a geat living, afterall.