Time is ripe for visiting Ireland

By

DANIEL O'CARROLL,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

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Enjoying a hike at Sheep's Head in County Cork

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At certain junctures it feels right to visit Ireland, to go home. This is one such moment.

For an Irish-American looking to travel ‘home’ this summer, there are plenty of reasons why now is the right moment to do so.

For one, a new Tourism Ireland campaign seeking to inject new life into the Irish market has unearthed some creative reasons why now is indeed a good time to visit. The upcoming events schedule would have even the most hesitant of travelers hopping onto the next Aer Lingus flight to the land of greenery, brown envelopes, and Cuchulainn. Upcoming events include the Dublin Horse Show, the 3 Irish Open, the Wexford Opera Festival and the Galway Arts festival.

Most encouraging though, is that despite the obvious economic tinges to this new campaign, there’s a genuine element of the Irish government seeing the light and deciding –whether economically motivated or otherwise– to reach out to its overseas cousins and brothers in America and try bring them home, at least for a vacation.

It won’t be long before a vacation to Ireland will be even cheaper, thanks to the proposed ‘Certificate of Irishness’ certificates that the government is proposing to launch to the Diaspora.  So why not reciprocate the enthusiasm and come see what’s new, and what’s old, in the forty shades of green?

One of the most encouraging reasons to visit could be the newfound progress that the Northern Irish peace process has made.

The once iron curtain border, if now a border at all, is for all intents and purposes a purely cultural one. Physically, it’s practically imperceptible, and there’s never been a better time for a citizen to consider himself an inhabitant of the island of Ireland rather than the Republic or North.

It’s hard to not want to see for yourself how Ireland feels in the wake of such monumental change; I certainly do.

Money is tight everywhere nowadays, and fortunately there’s also never been a cheaper time financially for an American to visit the emerald isle. The Dollar-Euro exchange rate, has shifted wildly in favor of Americans visiting Ireland.

At the time of writing one dollar buys you almost 80 cents of Euro. Parity, according to the commentators, is on the cards. There’s hardly ever been a time when the rate has worked out so favorably for American tourists coming to Ireland, and with the Euro now ranking as one of the weakest major world currencies, it’s never made more financial sense to visit Ireland and take advantage of the currency market.

Despite all these reasons, though, the traditional reasons for wanting to visit Ireland still reign supreme.

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