Fine Gael has ridiculed Government calls for an end to the "rip-off" Ireland mentality by naming an "award" for the most blatant over-charging after the Minister for Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.
The opposition party said yesterday that it will give the "O'Donoghue Ostrich Award" to the industry voted the worst offender by users of its www.ripoff.ie website.
The move is a response to the Minister's demand on the party to withdraw the site and his call for an end to claims that a "rip-off" culture was operating in Ireland. Mr O'Donoghue said such claims were akin to an accusation that wholesale and retail traders were a "pack of crooks" and said such claims were doing enormous damage abroad to Irish tourism.
