A Kerry county councillor has leapt to the defence of Killarney, The Kingdom’s second largest town, following its description as a “tourist trap” by a US travel writer.
Californian writer Rick Steves was also less than complimentary about Cork’s Blarney Stone.
Reviewing Killarney, which sits on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, Mr Steves wrote: “If you have the misfortune to spend the night in Killarney, you’ll understand what I mean.’
“This is a place where most tourists wear nametags — a traffic jam of tour buses. The town is a sprawling line of green Holiday Inns and outlet malls littered with pushy shoppers looking for plastic shamrocks.”
Outraged councillor Brendan Cronin said the “hundreds of thousands” of visitors to Killarney annually contradicted what Mr Steves had written.
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“It’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth,” said Cllr Cronin, “and sure anyone can have an opinion. As the old saying used to be ‘what was paper would take ink’. So, to be controversial, you’d get yourself noticed.”
Cllr Cronin added the popularity of the Kerry hotspot was the footfall and Mr Steves comments were “complete nonsense”.
His sentiments were echoed by Cllr Martin Grady, who listed Killarney National Park, the Abbey, Muckross Park and Torc Waterfall were just some of the stunning landmarks on offer in the town.
“Not many other European towns could boast that,” said Cllr Grady.
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