“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” (Quote attributed to President Abraham Lincoln, but possibly first quoted by American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer Phineas Taylor Barnum.)
The old adage that ‘Paper does not refuse ink,’ was further emphasised, clarified, reinforced (call it what you will,) on page five, bottom right hand corner, of today’s local Tipperary Star newspaper. The latter adage retains a healthy scepticism with regard to what is written in everyday newspapers, however absurd, illusory or self promoting.
I am referring to the headline, “Thurles Visitor Figures Rise,” (No it has nothing to to do with over weight people,) purporting to come from the pen of Fine Gael town Councillor & outgoing Town Mayor Mr Michael Cleary.
Fine Gael Councillor Michael Cleary reports an increase in visitor numbers to Thurles & surrounding areas according to this printed report. While every business in Thurles is reporting information to the contrary, one cannot help wonder from whence came Councillor Cleary extracting, surprising & amazing insight on these tourist numbers.
One is immediately also drawn to the website of Fine Gael Councillor Neale Richmond and his Blog posted on May 29th 2013, entitled “Tourism numbers on the rise as Gathering picks up pace.”
Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear, one of these Councillors, dare I say both being “Pretenders to the Throne,” must stand accused of “Plagiarism,” latter word being defined as academic dishonesty. Will one of these Councillors now be subject to severe sanctions, like expulsion from the Fine Gael party, if found guilty by a jury of their peers?
So what did they both publish? Spot the difference.
Councillor Richmond Stated;
(1) “CSO figures show a 4% increase in trips to Ireland between February and April, and strong showings from Europe and North America, compared to the same three months last year,” Councillor Richmond said, adding that the figures show that the Gathering 2013 is clearly picking up pace.
“The strong growth at the start of the year has continued into the second quarter. This is very encouraging as we enter our main tourist season. Visitor numbers from mainland Europe performed particularly well, showing the strongest performance since 2007, while North America generated the highest number of arrivals in over a decade,” he continued.
“There is a real buzz around tourism in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown for the Gathering, which bodes very well for the months ahead and for the year as a whole.
The Fine Gael Councillor also welcomed the introduction of a ‘Gathering Gestures’ app, which is available for tourists to download. “Overseas visitors can use this app to avail of special offers and complementary add-ons, to ensure our international visitors get even more from their holiday in Ireland this year.”
Councillor Cleary Stated;
(2)”CSO figures show a 4% increase in trips to Ireland between February and April, and strong showings from Europe and North America, compared to the same three months last year,” Councillor Cleary said, adding that the figures show that the Gathering 2013 is clearly picking up pace.
“The strong growth at the start of the year has continued into the second quarter. This is very encouraging as we enter our main tourist season. Visitor numbers from mainland Europe performed particularly well, showing the strongest performance since 2007, while North America generated the highest number of arrivals in over a decade,” he continued.
“There is a real buzz around tourism in Thurles for the Gathering, which bodes very well for the months ahead and for the year as a whole,” he said.
The Fine Gael Councillor also welcomed the introduction of a ‘Gathering Gestures’ app, which is available for tourists to download. “Overseas visitors can use this app to avail of special offers and complementary add-ons, to ensure our international visitors get even more from their holiday in Ireland this year,” he said.
(Note the similar spell-check mistake on the line “the introduction of a’Gathering Gestures’ app“,).
In the words of Queen Elizabeth II, (Latter who failed to get an invitation to visit her home town of Thurles, thanks to Thurles Town Council way back in 2011.) “Now before one jumps to any conclusions, one must first ask several pertinent question,” (1) Who plagiarised whom ? (2) Was this a personal political statement emanating from Fine Gael’s Tourism Ministers Leo Varadkar, Michael Ring or Alan Kelly, as part of Fine Gael’s current stance on Tipperary non existant tourism promotion ? (3) Was this statement just a simple “Paste & Copy Job,” designed by either of these two Councillor to feed Tipperary or indeed Dublin mushrooms, latter all kept in the dark and regularly fed Bullsh*t ?
Surely Fine Gael must know by now that our informed readership are already aware that grass is always greener on the side which spreads the most bullsh*t.
Our readers are also well aware of the immortal words of Caesar in his oral declaration to the masses regarding his campaign in Britain: “VENI, VIDI, VOTE,” – Translated: “I came, I saw, I had hoped for open transparency in government.” (Well it was something like that Caesar said and anyway it is so long, long ago now, how am I, one of these Tipperary mushrooms, supposed to remember.)
Joke Over
All joking aside folks, a group of 12 traditional thatched holiday cottages in Puckane, near Lough Derg here in North Tipperary are to be included in the next Allsop Property Auction. Their guide asking price is €300,000 or €35, 000 each and all boasting of having three bedrooms. This further illustrates the strength of Tourism in Deputy Noel Coonan’s & Tourism Minister Alan Kelly’s constituency of North Tipperary.
Meanwhile, the Waterford Museum of Treasures is proud to announce that for the first time in some 400 years the Lismore Crosier will be back in Waterford and on public display in their Medieval Museum from 14th June until the end of September only, after which it will go back on display in the National Museum of Ireland in Kildare Street, Dublin for the benefit of Dublin’s economy. Like the Derrynaflan Chalice, which will not be returning to Thurles this Summer, thanks mainly to the non effort of Mr Cleary’s Thurles Town Council & North Tipperary Co Council, The Lismore Crosier is one of the great treasures of Ireland and a remarkable example of Viking art from about 1111 AD.
Well done Waterford, unlike Tipperary you obviously have TD’s & councillors who actually earn their salaries and expenses.
There has been a big increase in the number of people in Thurles for the past week because the Archerstown to Turtulla Road is closed, temporarily forcing a large number of cars to drive through the town.