Agencies under fire as race is on to put Limerick on the (Google) map

AGENCIES responsible for promoting Limerick have been accused of falling down on the job after it emerged that the city was virtually non-existent for industrialists and tourists searching for it on Google Maps.

Google users have to go down into level four on the the map (the basic map rather than the satellite or Earth map) before Limerick emerges.

Proinsias McMahon, who works with international business development, was amazed Limerick Chamber of Commerce and the Limerick Communications Office were not alert to the deficit of information on a critical information site.

“It must be tackled as a No 1 priority,” he said.

Adding a bizarre dimension to the situation, he said the only place in Limerick that comes up when you enter level one on the site was the village of Annacotty.

“This is crazy stuff. When you go into Google Maps you have an outline of every county in the country and the main towns and cities.

“At the first level, every county is highlighted except Limerick, but you do get Annacotty. Limerick is not there at all.

“If you have somebody looking at the Google Maps from an industrial or holiday point of view, Limerick does not jump up at them and they won’t go down four levels.”

Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins said: “Given the extensive worldwide use of Google Maps by both the business community and by the public, the fact that Limerick is quite literally not on the map is a huge problem.”