Blarney Castle chief: Tourists want to be served by Irish staff

THE owner of one of Ireland’s biggest visitor attractions has claimed the tourism industry needs to keep Irish people instead of foreigners to curb the loss of overseas visitors.

Sir Charles Colthurst of Blarney Castle, Co Cork, said tourists want to be served by Irish staff because they come to this country for the banter and the friendliness of our people rather than our weather.

“If you ever did the Cork-Dublin train regularly a few years ago there was a marvellous man on the train, everybody would have remembered him. In the same way, there was a great porter in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin,” he said.