[Judgement Day]

Meanwhile down the road at Elphin in County Roscommon, a bull**** Model Railway Village (LittleElph) which was being pushed by British consultants before I left Leitrim in 1998 appears to have been approved - again! See here: http://www.goelphin.com/ If this model railway village is anything like the fiasco at Clonakilty it should not receive a cent in EU or other public funding. Clonakilty has to be seen to be believed.

A couple of Trip Advisor reviews here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...k.html#REVIEWS



An ex.Sugar Company diesel shunting locomotive garishly painted up as a 'steam' engine - note the driver painted in the cab window - preservation Irish style!



Even the 'preserved' post office box and telephone kiosk carry awful liveries which are completely incorrect.

[xavidub]

We have a national inability to keep public access toilets clean. I have seen cleaner public toilets in Russia and Nepal than I do in Ireland. We don't even seem to understand why it's important.

[keithclancy]

Originally Posted by xavidub

We have a national inability to keep public access toilets clean. I have seen cleaner public toilets in Russia and Nepal than I do in Ireland. We don't even seem to understand why it's important.

Charge 50 cent to go to the Toilet, use it to pay someone to clean/watch over them and they'll improve.

[AlekSmart]

Charge 50 cent to go to the Toilet, use it to pay someone to clean/watch over them and they'll improve.

Sadly Keith,they will not.

A colleague of mine had a rather fragrant experience recently whilst operating a Bus in Dublin.

Having taken a group of young "ladies" on board earlier in the journey he was alerted by another passenger to some "messing" down the back of the bus upstairs.

Turns out to have been a communal urination by the "Ladies" before they headed of to a city centre nightspot.

The stench alone was enough for the Bus to be taken out of service and subject to a deep clean procedure....but of equal interest was the amount of empty "mineral" bottles left behind by the young "Ladies".

I`m afraid a 50c charge won`t alter the attitudes of these "Ladies" at all....however being identified and handed a bucket,mop and some strong smelling disinfectant might achieve some result,especially if their work was video recorded for posterity...and U-Tube !

[Augmerson]

It's sad stuff to hear and I do feel a little embarressed. We have an amazing heritage.

Let's just put the Germans in charge of everything. Atleast they are efficient.

[Judgement Day]

Dear

Thank you for your email, our Chief Executive responded to your email on 29 September and I am not sure why you did not receive it, apologies for this and please find copy of his reply below.
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Thank you for your email and regret your unsatisfactory experience at the Fry Model Railway.

The toilets in the courtyard you refer to are public toilets and not under our control and are intended for use by all visitors to the Park. They have been closed for some time and consequently there is a big demand for the toilet facilities in the Castle.

There is a cleaner on duty all day Sunday in the Castle and the toilets are checked at regular intervals and time sheets on the back of the door are signed off accordingly. The toilet seat is being replaced today.

I agree that the Exhibition needs to be upgraded but we do not have the resources to do so in these difficult times and we are not in a position to appoint a manager as there is an embargo on recruiting new staff. However, we endeavour to provide a high level of service with the resources we do have and therefore am dismayed by the content of your letter.

We have opened in winter months in the past and our experience was very low visitor numbers and to open all year round would mean running the Attraction at a considerable loss. As it is we just about break even in the months that we are open.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to me.

Kind regards,

Frank Magee
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Maria O'Callaghan
Sales Manager
Dublin Tourism Attractions
Malahide Castle
Malahide
County Dublin

[keithclancy]

Originally Posted by AlekSmart

Sadly Keith,they will not.

A colleague of mine had a rather fragrant experience recently whilst operating a Bus in Dublin.

Having taken a group of young "ladies" on board earlier in the journey he was alerted by another passenger to some "messing" down the back of the bus upstairs.

Turns out to have been a communal urination by the "Ladies" before they headed of to a city centre nightspot.

The stench alone was enough for the Bus to be taken out of service and subject to a deep clean procedure....but of equal interest was the amount of empty "mineral" bottles left behind by the young "Ladies".

I`m afraid a 50c charge won`t alter the attitudes of these "Ladies" at all....however being identified and handed a bucket,mop and some strong smelling disinfectant might achieve some result,especially if their work was video recorded for posterity...and U-Tube !

Christ almighty.

Seriously though, just pointing out that here in Holland and in Germany its normal to pay to use a toilet in a pub/restaurant and their usually always clean.

[Absurdum]

A lot of German motorway service areas charge 50c to use the bathroom, but they give you a voucher which can then be redeemed in-store. The auto-self-cleaning jacks are amazing too.

[maninasia]

Originally Posted by keithclancy

Christ almighty.

Seriously though, just pointing out that here in Holland and in Germany its normal to pay to use a toilet in a pub/restaurant and their usually always clean.

Yep, there is no point having a free but dirty facility one would not use. Better to pay a little if it is maintained properly.

[flutered]

what about a hotel that refuses c.c. cash or a cheque made out to the owner, also the staff paid cash in the hand.

[Judgement Day]

What about a recently opened 4 star hotel whose owners threatened their staff with dismissal if they joined a union? The same hotel where breakfast was cooked in the wee small hours of the morning and reheated at breakfast time and the uneaten sausages/rashers etc refrozen for the next morning. The hotel where food was frequently picked up off the kitchen floor and put back on plates. The hotel where mattresses that had been urinated on by drunk guests were not cleaned but left up against radiators until dry. Where fire exits were routinely blocked by laundry trollies. I could go on but I suspect that the four star hotel where I worked was/is far from unique in the Irish tourism product.

[Rockery Woman]

Originally Posted by Judgement Day

What about a recently opened 4 star hotel whose owners threatened their staff with dismissal if they joined a union? The same hotel where breakfast was cooked in the wee small hours of the morning and reheated at breakfast time and the uneaten sausages/rashers etc refrozen for the next morning. The hotel where food was frequently picked up off the kitchen floor and put back on plates. The hotel where mattresses that had been urinated on by drunk guests were not cleaned but left up against radiators until dry. Where fire exits were routinely blocked by laundry trollies. I could go on but I suspect that the four star hotel where I worked was/is far from unique in the Irish tourism product.

Thats disgusting! Did they not have waterproof covers on the mattresses? For Gods sake its 2010! People expect a good standard nowadays. If we cant compete with the rest of Europe in accomodation there is no hope for our flagging tourist industry.

I worked in a restaurant 15 years ago and similar things happened in the kitchen, food was regularly "recycled". Im surprised things like this are still commonplace Judgement Day but obviously its still happening!

[kuntboy]

Come on guys it's Ireland what did you expect? Professionalism? lol. We are the laughing stock of the world.

[padrepio]

Surely surfing should be marketed more heavily - it isnt weather dependent and we have serious natural resources for it. I always think somewhere like Shannon airport should subsidise the cost of hiring a car. Lets be honest buses etc are terrible. Having a car would encourage tourists to drive around the country more stopping off at several locations. The common complaint from tourists is the prohibitively and ridiculous cost of public transport. Can we not link in with some EU wide travel ticket thing?

The tourist industry in Ireland is poor value for money. We seem to attract frugal Europeans sharing glasses of Guinness on bus tours rather that promoting Ireland as an island to explore. There are some unreal sites in Ireland - was in Dun Aenghus last year in the Aran Island. It was a nice day granted but the scenery was breataking. We need to promote that more.

[maninasia]

Spot on. I have identified cycling holidays as huge potential for Ireland, just need to put in more cycle lanes on those disused railways. Marketing Ireland can only go so far, you've got to have good product to market though.