In a major boost to Irish Tourism, Delta Airlines have announced that they will reinstate their winter schedule between JFK and Shannon Airport for the 2010-2011 winter season.
Delta withdrew the route for winter 2009/10 opting only for a summer service, however the resumption of the winter link is a huge boost for Shannon Airport, Ireland’s midwest and Irish tourism in general delivering greater cometition for North American tourists looking to fly to Ireland
What is it about Ireland and the world renowned Irish sense of humour?
Maybe it is a nationwide sense of mirth to laugh at everything about ourselves, coined by the Irish phrase of “taking the mick”, meaning having a laugh.
It is an ingrained trait that has seen the Irish through the centuries, when things don’t go to plan instead of collapsing in despair we have learned to look at the funny side and laugh at the irony and stupidity of everything. Irish humour can be thought of as the ultimate in sarcasm where nothing or no one, not priests nor politicians, is too sacred to mock or to “take the mick out of”.
Welcome to a land where nothing runs on time, where the transport minister heads away on a sun holiday in the middle of a 3 week freezefest, where a prominent airline considered charging people for the “privilege” of using the airline facilities during the recession, and where a former finance minister and taoiseach quotes from “Father Ted” when asked about the “serious matter” of his private finances. All in all a land where no-one takes anything seriously and a land that has spawned some of the best comedy shows, writers and comedians of all time. Comedians such as Dave Allen, Brendon Grace, Sean Hughes, Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Dara O’Briain, Ardal O’Hanlon, David O’Doherty, Meave Higgins, Deirdre O’ Kane, Jason Byrne, Neil Delamare to name just a few.
For a chance to relax and lay back and witness some of this Irish sense of humour you can watch the news and the political and sporting commentary (and that’s the serious stuff) or better yet why not sit down with a pint and checkout great comedy in action at the many comedy venues and pubs around the country.
However if you have the chance why not see some of the best of national and international stars in action in some of our world renowned Comedy festivals. Here’s a sample
3rd June to 7th June 2010
The Mother of all Irish Comedy festivals and one of the top five comedy festivals in the world, Ireland’s favourite festival, The Carlsberg Cat Laughs Comedy Festival runs in Kilkenny for the June Bank Holiday. Since it’s inception in 1994 this festival has rapidly established itself as one of the best comedy festivals in the world.
Attracting a host of the best national and international stand-up comedians and comedy improvisers, the comedy festival provides for simple fun and exhilaration. Five days of fun and laughter are guaranteed with over 85 live performances in the relaxing surrounds of 14 of Kilkenny’s best loved venues. Continue reading
DiscoveringIreland have just compiled a list based on our Guest’s feedback as to the top 10 places to visit in Ireland for 2010.
We’d love to hear what you think…
The shuttle bus service for the Croke Park Stadium Tour is to be relaunched on Tuesday April 13th and will run for the Summer Season until Spetember.
The service evolves from the very successful introductory service last year; and the 2010 Shuttle Bus will include an extended service to the new Glasnevin Museum.
The service will take tourists from the centre of Dublin city to two landmark venues deeply embedded in Irish history. Starting out from Trinity College, the bus will stop at three ‘pick-ups’ along the way – at Trinity College, Suffolk Street and Parnell Square before reaching the Croke Park and then onto the new Glasnevin Museum.
The extension of the shuttle service to Glasnevin will allow tourists and the public greater access to two of Dublin’s “must see” attractions. The Croke Park venue hosts the Stadium Tour and the GAA Museum, both of which are a fantastic celebration of the history and heritage of Ireland’s native sports. Glasnevin Trust Museum located at the famous Cemetery site is also host to a fully interactive exhibition highlighting the lives of those buried within the walls of the famous cemetery and historical details of the workings of a Victorian Cemetery.
“Last year the shuttle bus service to Croke Park was a resounding success as it facilitated access for a large number of visitors to one of Ireland’s premier and most celebrated venues. We are delighted to bring back the service for the forthcoming year, whilst also welcoming the extension of the route to the Glasnevin Trust Museum. The premise behind the shuttle bus is again to provide a quick, direct and inexpensive trip to both of the popular venues for tourists and the public alike. We hope the extension will encourage even more people to take advantage of the service this year” said Mark Dorman, GAA Museum Director.
The service from Dublin City Centre to both Croke Park and Glasnevin will run daily from Tuesday to Saturday each week. While there are currently no plans to arrange pickups at Dublin Hotels, the extension of the service to hotels near the shuttle route or near the start and end points has not been ruled out.
If one wishes to stay in the area there are also a number of accommodation options available, just checkout our page on Hotels Near Croke Park
Ryanair announced its seventh route from Kerry Airport today with a new route to Dusseldorf (Weeze) in germany from July 1 2010. Tickets for the new route will be on sale on Ryanair’s website from tomorrow.
The announcement comes just a day after Ryanair announced that it was going to overlook Cork Airport for new routes in a claim that high charges made the airport too expensive for the low cost airline and onthe same day that it announced plans to charge for toilet use on board its aircraft.
related stories:
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/ryanair-to-bypass-cork-airport-over-high-costs-116403.html
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/letters/ryanair-set-to-charge-pound1-to-use-toilet-on-flights-14757317.html
From Yesterday, St. Patrick’s Day, all senior tourists (aged 66 or more) are entitled to travel on the Irish Rail Network completely free of charge.
The scheme, known as the “Golden Trekker” applies to train travel in Ireland on the Iarnród Éireann (Irish rail) network.
Golden Trekker Tickets take the form of a four-day Trekker ticket, or a sequence of four-day tracker tickets for longer stays, providing senior visitors with unrestricted rail travel within the republic of Ireland. Each four-day Trekker ticket is worth at least €100 ($140) per person.
The scheme makes Ireland vacations even more affordable for seniors. Any of our selfdrive Ireland vacation packages can be purchased excluding the rental car and you can get around using your free rail pass and take a bus or taxi to your hotel.
Alternatively choose from our list of hotels near Irish train stations to make that vacation even more convenient.
To get your Golden trekker ticket you must contact your local Tourism Ireland representatives: Continue reading
Hotels in Ireland are now among the cheapest throughout Europe with only Hungary, Poland & the Czech Republic having lower average rates. According to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index, the average price of an Irish hotel room fell by 21% in 2009 with the cost per night falling from €101 to €80, the steepest decline in Western Europe.
The index also shows that Killarney hotels are the most expensive rooms in the country while the cheapest are in County Waterford. The largest percentage fall was in Galway where prices were highest in 2008 but fell by 24% in 2009. Cork hotels are also down by 31%
The changes by town/city are set out in the following table:
| Room Price | |||
| Town/city | 2009 | 2008 | Change |
| Killarney | €106 | €120 | -12% |
| Galway | €105 | €139 | -24% |
| Sligo | €84 | €86 | -2% |
| Cork | €77 | €111 | -31% |
| Dublin | €76 | €98 | -23% |
| Limerick | €63 | €76 | -17% |
| Waterford | €61 | €65 | -6% |
You can download the full report at hotels.com:
http://www.hotels.com/press/hotels.com-hotel-price-index-ireland-2009-h2.pdf
In an effort to remove confusion for the passenger and allow for the additioanl boarding gate capacity that will come on stream in Terminal 2, all boarding gates at Dublin Airport will be renumbered on Wednesday next February 3 2010.
The alpha-numerical system based on the pier location will be abandoned for a more logical numeric sequence following consultation with airlines.
From start of business Wednesday morning for the first wave of departures the following will apply:
In time, when Pier E is fully operational all boarding gates there will start from a 400 number range.
It is not clear if the new terminal will continue starting at 500 or if it will operate it’s own independent system.
An airport spokesperson stated in a comment, “We believe that this change in gate numbering will provide a more intuitive way finding solution with logical pier/gate sequencing for passengers and is being introduced to improve the customer journey through Dublin Airport .”
We often get questions about how to pay at toll roads in Ireland and their costs. It struck me that it would be a good topic for a post and an opportunity to put together a comprehensive list of car charges and payment methods for tolls in Ireland.
As of today there are 8 places in Ireland where you must pay a toll. The 2010 toll for a passenger car is as follows:
– East Link (Dublin City) €1.80
– M50/West Link (Dublin) €2.00/€2.50/€3.00 depending on payment method
– M1 (Drogheda Bypass) €1.90
– M4 (County Meath) €2.90
– M6 (County Galway) €1.90
– M8 (County Cork) €1.90
– M25 (Waterford City Bypass) €1.90
– Dublin Port Tunnel (Dublin City)
–€10 Mon-Fri 6am-10am Southbound
–€10 Mon-Fri 4pm-7pm Northbound
–€3 All other times
Update: As of mid-2010 there is a 9th toll in operation. See below for details.
1. Cash (€ only) can be paid at the toll plaza for all toll roads except the M50/WestLink in Dublin
2. An Electronic Tag can be used (All tolls are operated under the eToll interoperability program of the National
Roads Authority). Tags are available from any of 7 suppliers and can be post-paid or pre-paid depending on the account type chosen. Most tag providers charge a monthly fee ranging from €0.50 from easytrip.ie to €1.25.. See tagcompare.ie for a list of suppliers.
The M50 Toll is €2 for a passenger car using this method.
3. Credit Cards can be used at the M4 Toll and at the Dublin Port Tunnel
4. Prepayment Cards can be used at the M4 Toll (cards can be purchased at the toll plaza and offer a 10% discount on tolls)
5. Online Payments can be made for the M50 Toll at www.eflow.ie (payment must be made by 8pm on the day following your use of the road)
The M50 Toll is €3 for a passenger car using this method.
6. Telephone Payment can be made for the M50 Toll by calling 1890 50 10 50 from Ireland, 0845 301 5405 from the UK or +800 50 10 50 11 from other international locations (payment must be made by 8pm on the day following your use of the road)
The M50 Toll is €3 for a passenger car using this method.
7. Payzone can be used for the M50 Toll. Any retail outlet displaying the Payzone logo can accept M50 Toll payments (payment must be made by 8pm on the day following your use of the road) See payzone.ie for details of outlets.
The M50 Toll is €3for a passenger car using this method.
8. Your vehicle can be Registered for the M50 Toll. Similar to an electronic tag, you can prepay or postpay your toll based on video recognition of your car registration plate as it passes the toll point.
The M50 Toll is €2.50 for a passenger car using this method.
For DiscoveringIreland Guests on vacation in Ireland, the payment is very straight forward for all tolls except the M50. For the M50, check with your car rental company as to how you should handle the M50 toll. Some will have registered the car under option 8 above and will charge you based on number of passages when you return the vehicle. Others will leave the responsibility with you to pay the toll. If this is the case, please be aware of the 8pm deadline on the day following usage as penalties apply after this time.
Update July 2010: A new stretch of motorway opened in June 2010 completing the M7/M8 link between Dublin & Cork. This motorway costs €1.80 per passenger car.
Update August 2010: Tunnel under the River Shannon at Limerick is tolled at a cost of €1.80 per car
