Disappointment at absence of Salthill tourist office

The Salthill Tourist Office will again not be open for this summer despite predictions of a very busy season due to The Gathering and the expected extended period of fine weather.

Fáilte Ireland confirmed to the Sentinel that they were not in a position to staff the Salthill Office on a seasonal basis, due to the impact of the Public Sector employment embargo.

Head of Fáilte Ireland’s Operations in the West, Fiona Monaghan, said that their ‘hands were tied’ as regards the hiring of any extra seasonal staff that would be needed to operate their Salthill office for the summer months.

“We are working off a very tight complement of staff and we simply do not have any other resources that we can deploy to open the Salthill office during the summer months,” she said.

However, she stressed that Fáilte Ireland operated a seven day service for the summer months from their main office in Forster Street and at the kiosk in Eyre Square, with both outlets extremely busy.

Fáilte Ireland last operated the Salthill office in the summer of 2010, although the Atlantaquarium ran an information service through the holiday season of 2011, while it was used by the Volvo Ocean Race organisers last summer.

Local store owner and off-licence proprietor in Salthill, Francis O’Leary, said it was very disappointing that the tourism office would be closed for the third summer season in a row.

“We are O’Leary’s Off-Licence and Foodstore, are the de factor tourist office in Salthill as we have many daily inquiries about bus tours, directions for accommodation and also about why the tourist office is closed. We will happily do our patriotic duty and continue to provide these services to tourists,” Francis O’Leary told The Sentinel.

For more on this story, see this week’s Connacht Sentinel