Sir, - I have recently returned from a 3-week holiday with my family and friends in Ireland. I brought my American boyfriend for his first introduction to the beauty and friendliness that Ireland is famous for - excuse me, was famous for. We spent most of our holiday in Dublin where shopkeepers, bartenders and ordinary people grunted and barely acknowledged his existence when they heard the American twang.
Luckily for me, my family and friends were very welcoming and the Irish community that he knows in Florida shows him that not all the Irish are rude and ignorant. Thankfully we visited the West of Ireland for a week, where he received the friendliness that he had heard about.
So, Dubliners, wake up and smell the roses. We are all ambassadors of our country. Someone has to fill the numerous hotels we are building and the pockets that are not yet full. - Yours, etc.,
Grainne Whelan, Tamarac, Florida.