Sir, - I recently stayed in an example of the type of mediocre B & B which Bord Failte continues to register.
In the current edition of Accommodation Requirements for Irish Homes, the emphasis is on room dimensions, ceiling heights and minimum bed-sizes. Perhaps that is why this midlands B & B can get away with the following: a bedroom with no dressing-table, no chairs and no mirror; tea-making facilities consisting of a kettle standing on the floor and plugged in behind the wardrobe; a minute en-suite bathroom with a filthy extractor fan but no towel rail, hook or shelf; tough, reheated rashers at breakfast, served in a chilly room whose one-bar electric heater was switched off half-way through the meal on a day when ice coated the cars outside.
There are many excellent B & Bs in Ireland. How galling for the owners to know that, without making the slightest effort, Mrs Slipper-slopper down the road can also receive Bord Failte approval because her rooms are the correct size.
Tourism is a business. Middlin' isn't good enough. - Yours, etc.,
Vera Cave, Donegal Town, Co Donegal.