The friendliest of Irish welcomes

On Monday 12 March last Government minister John O'Donohue was on the RTÉ radio news complaining that he has learned from surveys that some tourists visiting this country would rather be met by real Irish people instead of "non-nationals". Listening to him it occurred to me that a perfect solution to his problem would be if he could get hold of a few thousand leprechauns for our hotels and restaurants. This would definitely meet the requirements of the people who filled out those survey forms. It would also, because of the well-known fact that every leprechaun has a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, deal with issues that might otherwise come up around the levels of remuneration available in our hospitality industry.

Seamus McKenna, Dundrum