Message in a bottle lands girls trip to Ireland

Two Canadian girls whose decision to throw a message in a bottle into the Atlantic ocean are set to arrive in this country later today.

Eight years after the bottle set sail from the rugged Grande-Villée area of Quebec before landing in Passage East in Co Waterford, Charlaine Dalpé and Claudia Garneau are set to make a similar, if somewhat more comfortable journey, courtesy of Tourism Ireland.

As part of a thank you gesture for the part they played in the feelgood story, the tourism body has organised an all-expenses paid trip for the pair in this country.

It is hoped the widespread coverage of the trip in Canada will help to encourage more people from North America to visit Irish shores.

After landing in Ireland later today, Ms Dalpé and Garneau will be shown eye-catching sights in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and the rest of the South East.

The trip — which mirrors a similar journey last month to Canada for Oisin Mellea, the 10-year-old Irish boy who found the message last autumn — will see the pair visit Dublin for the rest of this week before coming to Cork at the weekend.

Before travelling home on Aug 8, the Canadian girls will meet with Oisin and his family and being the guests of honour at a meeting with the Canadian ambassador to Ireland.

“We are delighted to welcome Claudia and Charlaine to Ireland and wish them a really enjoyable stay here,” said Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons.

“This heartwarming story was picked up extensively by the media in Canada, providing fantastic, positive publicity about Ireland, and the friendliness and hospitality for which we are renowned, that money can’t buy.”

The story of the message in a bottle’s journey from one small town to another thousands of miles away has received extensive international coverage since it was first reported last year — benefiting tourism in both Canada and Ireland. It has been reported extensively by media in this country, CBC in Canada and national newspapers in the US.