A SINN Fein councillor has reacted with dismay at Kerry County Council’s refusal to erect a sign coming into Kerry promoting the fact that Banna Beach was voted No.1 Beach in Ireland by TripAdvisor for 2017.
Cllr Toireasa Ferris described the decision as “an absolute disgrace” at the Tralee Municipal District meeting at Council buildings on Monday.
Cllr Ferris’ motion was for “Kerry County Council to maximise the tourist potential of Banna being named number one beach in Ireland by TripAdvisor for 2017, including erecting signage at the entry to the county welcoming people to the home of the finest beach in Ireland”.
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The Council’s reply was that following a review of policy and procedures in relation to signage, they had undertaken a campaign to remove the proliferation of unauthorised signage which detracts from the appearance of the approach roads into both the towns and the county.
They said Kerry has won many TripAdvisor awards but as this was a social media based platform and the order of merit changes regularly, it would not be their policy to highlight achievements of this nature. The
Cllr Ferris said she was “absolutely disgusted” that now that there is a separate tourism unit in the council, that no-one there had the vision to see that this would be a positive idea.
Cllr Ferris said she intends on proceeding with her proposal and is willing to use some of her councillors allocations to fund it. She was supported in her argument by Cllr Pa Daly, Cllr Terry O’Brien and Mayor Norma Foley.
In reply, Director of Services Charlie O’Sullivan said he would revert back to the Tourism Unit about the motion.
Maybe it has come the time that Toireasa Ferris returns to who she was and stops bowing down to the CEO of the Corporation in the “Municipal District”(borrough) and returns to the side of the community