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KILLARNEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND SENATOR MARK DALY WELCOME MINISTER MANSERGH’S DECISION, ORDERING OPENING OF ROSS CASTLE BEFORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY 

Today, Senator Mark Daly witnessed Martin Mansergh T.D., Minister for State for the OPW, signing the order to open Ross Castle as the only OPW site to open before St. Patrick’s Day and four weeks ahead of all other OPW sites in Ireland.

Following numerous meetings and travelling to Tipperary on Sunday 25 January to meet the Minister, Senator Daly welcomes the decision. ‘Given Killarney’s and Kerry’s status as the premium tourism centre in Ireland, I welcome Ross Castle opening in the coming days’, says Senator Daly.

Senator Daly would like to thank the Killarney Chamber of Commerce, hoteliers and other tourism bodies for giving him help and assistance in providing him with information that allowed him to put a strong and compelling case for Ross Castle.

ENDS

STATEMENT FROM KILLARNEY CHAMBER OF TOURISM & COMMERCE  -  MARCH 5th 2009. 

On January 6th Killarney Chamber of Tourism & Commerce issued a press statement calling upon the Minister of State Martin Mansergh to reverse the recently announced decision to  dramatically reduce the opening dates for Ross Castle in 2009.  Minister Mansergh has today announced that Ross Castle will open before St. Patrick's Day and will not close until October 31st.  This announcement follows almost 2 months of sustained communication with the Department of Finance (OPW) from Killarney Chamber. 

Commenting on the announcement, Jerry O'Grady, Killarney Chamber Executive said, "We are delighted with the positive announcement made by Minister Mansergh and although we are still going to lose a couple of weeks open time versus 2008, in the current economic circumstances we consider the decision to be a good one for Killarney and for its tourism industry. When we launched our campaign in January we were intent on making a strong case based on the heritage importance of Ross Castle and on visitor numbers to Killarney during the shoulder seasons. While we are grateful for the support we received from all Oireachtas members in South Kerry, we wish to particularly acknowledge the sustained support of Senator Mark Daly who persisted on a weekly basis throughout the past two months with his efforts to place our case before Minister Mansergh".   

Jerry O'Grady said, "While we would like to think that our econmic arguments stood up on their own, we have little doubt but that without the strong sustained representations made by Senator Daly on our behalf, we may not have succeeded".