‘Pay O'Donovans to plug Ireland'

TWO of our greatest sporting heroes, Gary and Paul O’Donovan, from the world-class Skibbereen rowing club, are also selling Ireland all over the world, both on and off the sporting field, Deputy Michael Collins (Ind) recently told the Dáil.

‘Gary and Paul are a media magnet, prompting calls last week from the Australian media for their tourism bodies to sign them up to sell Australia,’ he said. ‘Before we lose such valuable assets to that country, will the Taoiseach work with Fáilte Ireland to provide funds for both Gary and Paul to promote Ireland when travelling all over the world?’

In reply, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said this was a novel idea and one which he thought was a very good one. ‘The deputy will note that Gary and Paul appear in our new video promoting Ireland, which was launched last week,’ he said, referring to the short glimpse of the rowers in the government’s ‘This is Ireland’ video. 

‘It now has six million views, which is a good investment. Regarding Fáilte Ireland contracting them, I will certainly pass on that suggestion to the CEO.’