Dublin Fringe Festival 2008

Posted on September 11, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland

What Dublin doesn’t have in size, it more than makes up for in personality. Ask anyone who’s visited the ‘Fair City’ and they’ll have one or two tales to tell about the legendary charm of Dublin. This September, Dublin is set to host a range of exciting events that provide the perfect opportunity to experience the city‘s unique character.

Of these events the one grabbing most of the headlines is the Dublin Fringe Festival. Picking up where Edinburgh left off, The Fringe is Ireland’s showcase of visual and performance arts played out at established and makeshift venues throughout Dublin from September 6th to 21st

Read more on the Dublin Fringe Festival

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Congratulations Westport

Posted on September 8, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland Travel Tips

It’s official! Westport in County Mayo is Ireland’s tidiest town. For the third time, the County mayo town has won the overall title at the 2008 SuperValu TidyTowns awards ceremony in Dublin. Westport previously won in 2001 and in 2006

A visit to Westport as part of an Ireland vacation or holiday will show the beauty that the town exudes.

Tidy towns initiative

The national TidyTowns competition was launched by Bord Fáilte (now Fáilte Ireland) in 1958 as a follow on from the National Spring Clean Campaign which ran from 1953 and 1957 as part of Tostal a tourism celebration of all things Irish. Bord Fáilte was restructured in 1995 and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government assumed ownership of TidyTowns and now organises the competition with the support of national sponsor SuperValu

The winners in other categories for 2008 were as follows:

Tidiest Large Urban Centre: Ennis, County Clare
Tidiest School: Duleek Boys NS, County Meath
Tidiest Village: Birdhill, County Tipperary
Tidiest small Town: Kenmare, County Kerry
Tidiest Large Town: Westport, County Mayo
Special award for contribution to ‘Tidy towns’ over 50 years: Glenties, County Donegal

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Cork Glasgow Route saved

Posted on September 5, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland Travel Tips

Aer Arann have announced that they will take over the Glasgow-Prestwick – Cork route that is being axed by Ryanair.

This follows the announcement by Ryanair last week that it was cutting two routes out of Cork Airport including the Galsgow route.

Aer Arann, who also fly to Edinburgh from Cork, confirmed this morning that they will begin flying from Cork to Glasgow’s Prestwick airport from October 28. This ensures there is no break in service for travelers between the two airports and is great news for me 🙂 (and for other people working for companies with offices in both Cork and Glasgow.)

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Ryanair to close two routes from Cork Airport

Posted on August 27, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland Travel Tips

Ryanair announced today that they are to close 2 routes to Cork Airport from the United Kingdom.

This is a blow to toursim in the southwest of Ireland, a region that has also seen UK visitor numbers affected by the closure of the Swansea-Cork ferry 2 years ago.

The routes to close are from East-Midlands and Glasgow-Prestwick, which will close on October 26th and 28th respectively.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said they had made the decision due to an increase in the charges being imposed by the airport on those routes from 1 November however Cork Airport management have rejected this claim stating that they have not raised charges.

Mr O’Leary claimed that he felt a deal was possible in recent negotiations but that the Airport’s parent company the Dublin Airport Authority(DAA) were blocking the move. He said that the situation could be rescued if the DAA “changed its mind” but as of now the two routes will finish in October.

This statement is sure to bring further pressure on government to complete the process of making Cork an independent airport from Dublin. This was promised with the breakup of Aer-Rianta in 2004, however as yet the process has been no more than a name change from Aer Rinata to the DAA.

As someone who works for an Irish company that has offices in both Cork and Glasgow, I really hope they sort this mess out!

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Is this the best example of cyber squatting I have ever seen or just pure genius

Posted on August 22, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland Travel Tips

Today I was looking for Aerlingus’ corporate website (or at least a site where there was information for peopel other than passengers) and I stumbled on www.aerlingusplc.com. What I found was eye-opening to say the least.

Despite Ryanair owning 29.4% of AerLingus, these two airlines are fierce competitors and are always in battle for customers. When I saw this I did a little research and found that when you do a google search for AerLingusplc, there is the Ryanair version of the site ranked at number 1. This search also revealed that Ryanair also own www.aerlingusplc.net.

The European Commission blocked a proposed takeover of AerLingus by Ryanair last year on following a rejection by the Aer Lingus board. Is the ownership of two Aer-lingus titled websites is a sweet dig back at the Irish national airline for Michael O’Leary or just childishness?

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The Beauty of a vacation in Ireland

Posted on August 21, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland Travel Tips

 While we look at at the uncharacteristically heavy rain this August, I came across this youtube clip that reminds us just why an Ireland Vacation is just so popular:

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DiscoveringIreland August 2008 Newsletter

Posted on August 13, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland

Rose of TraleeIn this month’s newsletter Seamus O’Murchu looks at one of the oldest beauty pageants in the world, The Rose of Tralee which starts on August 22nd.

As always, DiscoveringIreland have a very special offer this month giving you the opportunity to spend a week in Ireland for just $399!

Furthermore, for anyone who missed this last month, we are also continuing to keep you up to date with the top remaining festivals in Ireland this Summer & finally in this edition we hope you’ll enjoy experimenting with this month’s extra special traditional recipe!

Read the DiscoveringIreland Ireland Newsletter in full.

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Escape in August with DiscoveringIreland

Posted on August 12, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland

Self catering accommodation IrelandMake the most of the last couple of weeks of the summer holiday season and escape away to one of our many self catering accommodations scattered around the south west of Ireland.

At DiscoveringIreland we are currently offering excellent value on self catering accommodation for the weeks of August 16th and 23rd. Stay in one of our selected 3 bedroom properties for an amazing €499 for the week.

A stay at a self catering holiday home offers all the comforts of home with the fun of discovering a new part of our beautiful country. Our properties are situated in areas that offer lots facilities and plenty of outdoor activities.

For more information on this great offer call our Ireland office Toll Free 1 800 927 313

We look forward to hearing from you.

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Tiger who? ………Its Paddymania time

Posted on August 12, 2008 by cormac.oneill

Yep in case you have not heard it is Paddymania time here in Ireland as our greatest ever sportsman (currently being debated on our airwaves) lifted his 3rd major in under two years and his 2nd in a row. You can be sure that over the coming days every Tom, Dick and Harriett will be picking up their clubs and hitting the fairways, literally, the length and breath of Ireland. For this week at least Kids will no longer want to be Tiger and will swap the Nike Swoosh for the somewhat less cool Bank of Ireland logo.

And why not, our man was just awesome on Sunday. I have read and heard people say that he was Tiger like over those closing holes, making one vital putt after another.  Tiger does have that stare, that look of utter concentration. Harrington has that tongue that sticks out to the side a little when he takes a shot.  It works and who’s betting it wouldn’t bring him more majors.

What are the odds that at the next master, if Tiger shows up, the famous “You da Man Tiger” will be replaced with roars of “Up ye boy ye Paddy” as Harrington gets on the road to the grand slam. In truth I think Tiger knew that Paddy was on a march and that he did not really want to face him in the last two majors of the year. OK so perhaps I’m getting carried away a little and Harrington is not quit as good as Tiger, but mark my words Paddy is building momentum and momentum can be a very powerful force.

Another thing that is building momentum is the US dollar. The market has clearly reacted very positively to Harrington’s win and that’s good news for all of you that are hoping to visit the home of the new PGA champion.  Not only do we have the best courses in the world like the K Club and Lahinch but they are getting cheaper by the day. So lets all raise a glass to Harrington and wish both him and the dollar continued success in the months and years ahead.

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There's always a silver lining

Posted on August 7, 2008 by cormac.oneill

Rising oil prices, falling house prices and the ever worsening credit crunch, whether it’s TV, Radio or opening your newspaper thats all we seem to hear about these days. But are recessions really all that bad or can we look for a silver lining amidst all the doom and gloom?

Never one to miss an opportunity Micheal O’Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair, today announced that he had started discussions Boeing to order as many as 200 new airplanes to their fleet.
“I think aircraft values are going to collapse this winter,” Mr O’Leary said. “I think Boeing and Airbus order books are going to be under stress as airlines go bankrupt.”

So rejoice there may be more exciting, if slightly out of town, destinations on the way for you to explore complements of Ryanair.

That’s not all the good news that came out today. Inflation in Ireland is on the way down, well at least in July. The Central Statistics Office says the annual rate of increase was down to 4.4% in July, compared to 5% in June. Wait there’s more, the main areas of decline where in Food & Drink and hotel accommodation. Now that really is good news for all you travellers hoping to visit our shores this summer. There was never a better time to plan your travel to Ireland.

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