Madam, - Last Sunday morning I returned to Ireland on a flight from Atlanta. I had spent the journey in conversation with an elderly American couple, who were coming to Ireland for the first time and were looking forward to their holiday, asking a multitude of questions which I tried to answer.
Any rosy picture of Ireland which I had projected was dashed on arrival in Dublin airport. One could see the couple's faces drop as I tried to help them tackle the obstacle course of narrow stairs, and escalators not working or turned off, amid the depressing atmosphere and decor of an 1970s dole office. Two other flights had arrived at the same time and all their passengers converged on us from narrow stairs onto narrower corridors.
Does senior Aer Rianta management seriously expect elderly American tourists to have a euro coin on them for the trolleys in the baggage hall? This nonsense just adds to the cheap and seedy first impression which Americans receive on their arrival. Vast amounts of tax money is spent trying to get tourists here. Could some of it be spent upgrading Dublin Airport or changing its management? - Yours, etc.,
JOSEPH O BRIEN, Hermitage Crescent, Lucan, Co Dublin.