A new design for the international promotion of Irish tourism was unveiled yesterday by the Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, less than a year after its predecessor was introduced. On taking office, Dr McDaid told Bord Failte he wanted the old shamrock motif restored to prominence in its marketing abroad.

The new logo incorporates a newly-designed impressionistic shamrock dominating the Tourism Brand Ireland campaign logo, which did not meet with Dr McDaid's approval. It is understood that the Northern Ireland Tourist Board will not use the new logo but will retain the Tourism Brand Ireland version.

Dr McDaid said yesterday he was thoroughly convinced of the merits of marketing Ireland on an all-island basis and had been in touch with his Northern Ireland political counterpart. Some Northern politicians were taken aback by Dr McDaid's decision to seek a re-design without consulting the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, which had committed £500,000 sterling to the Tourism Brand Ireland launch and marketing campaign in the current year.

Tourism Brand Ireland's logo "failed to capture the imagination both at home and abroad", Dr McDaid said yesterday. The changes will cost Bord Failte about £100,000 in altering existing printed material, according to Dr McDaid, representing "a normal overhead cost" in the 1998 financial year. Some designers criticised Dr McDaid intervention, saying all new logos needed time to become accepted. While there were some misgivings about it, the general industry view was that the logo mattered less than that the Government should strongly back the campaign.