Ireland of Equals Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Ferris leads SF group to meet Tourism Ireland

Published: 21 June, 2006

A Sinn Fein delegation led by Kerry North TD Martin Ferris, today met in Dublin with senior management from Tourism Ireland, set up under the Good Friday Agreement to promote and market Ireland across the world as a single island tourism venue.

Martin Ferris was accompanied by MLA's Willie Clarke (the newly-elected chair of Down District Council) and Thomas O'Reilly, along with Caoimhin Mac Giolla Mhin from Coiste na n-Iarchimi's Political Tourism project, and Sean Oliver, Sinn Fein's All Ireland co-ordinator.

Speaking after the meeting, Ferris said, " The All-Ireland Implementation bodies, along with Tourism Ireland, are an important part of the All-Ireland structures of the GFA, and Sinn Fein will be meeting with the Chief Executives and senior managers of each of them over the next few weeks, to get an update on their work, and to raise matters of concern. In particular, we want to discuss the 'care and maintainance' status that the bodies are currently forced to work under, given the absence of the Assembly and all-Ireland political instititutions. Their suspension is tangibly affecting the potential work of these bodies." He continued, "The Strand Two, or All-Ireland, elements of the GFA must be build upon and expanded, as the logic for island-wide cooperation and integration in a whole range of fields is compelling, and clear to everyone".

Ferris continued, "We had a very productive and interesting engagement today, and we raised the need for the issue of political tourism to be seriously looked at. Many people from other countries come to places like West Belfast to find out more about the last forty years of conflict in Ireland, and bodies like Tourism Ireland, as well as the NITB, need to be marketing and promoting the work being done on the ground by projects like the Coiste's Political Tours project".