Paul Taylor on sat 31 mar 01
Dear All
I expect many Clayarters family and friends may be thinking of
visiting Ireland this year. Or - God forbid - canceling their planed visit
because they are not sure of the situation visa vi foot and mouth disease;
which has been found on two farms in the border area and thankfully up to
now has been contained.
Although the disease is an animal disease this country has virtually
shut up shop to get this disease under control . With the exception of some
pond life such as journalists. The whole country has kept out of the small
exclusion Zone in county Louth, put down disinfectant matts at the entrances
too all public access points and many rural businesses including myself have
closed while the situation looked bad. This was done with no policing from
the department of agriculture or any authority - people just got up and
acted in the common interest.
Apart from the few journalists who decided that their Job was more
important than our agriculture industry. They went into the exclusion zone
in hope they might find some goolish pictures. When they were challenged by
the general public their excuse was that there was no agricultural officials
or official barriers there to stop them. Even the presenters of all RTE
radio programs closed ranks to support their colleges - the irony is that
these presenters spend a lot of their time criticizing this sort of
arrogance in other professions.
The reason I am writing is an attempt to undo the harm that other pond
life has done to our tourist industry and my pottery business- "Plague
strikes" makes much better headlines than "Disease under control"
I think our collective panic has paid off the government has now lifted most
of the restrictions.
So if you are traveling to Ireland you are all very welcome. All things
that have nothing to do with agriculture are open including - thank God -
the fishing.
There is official info at
http://www.ireland.travel.ie/events/display.asp?eventId=79 .
The exclusion zone is small - you would probably have trouble finding it.
So to conclude If you are going to join us in the summer . You are all
welcome.
-- Regards from Paul Taylor
http://www.anu.ie/westportpottery
Those that live by rhetoric will lie by it
Richard Jeffery on sat 31 mar 01
Wish I could say it was as limited here... It IS only in certain areas, and
the Government here are trying to encourage tourism, after some initial
muddled messages. Basically, if you aren't going onto farmland, it's not so
much of a problem.
Spare a thought for gallery owners and artists here like Janet Kaiser - her
[splendid] gallery is in the countryside, as so many are. Her visitor
numbers are down by 70%, and her takings too... Even in Dorset, where there
is so far no trace of the disease, my income from galleries has gone down
significantly....
Richard, in Bournemouth UK, where if you listen very hard, you could be
deafened by the sound of chickens coming home to roost......
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Paul Taylor
Sent: 31 March 2001 10:41
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Visits to Ireland
Dear All
I expect many Clayarters family and friends may be thinking of
visiting Ireland this year. Or - God forbid - canceling their planed visit
because they are not sure of the situation visa vi foot and mouth disease;
which has been found on two farms in the border area and thankfully up to
now has been contained.
Although the disease is an animal disease this country has virtually
shut up shop to get this disease under control . With the exception of some
pond life such as journalists. The whole country has kept out of the small
exclusion Zone in county Louth, put down disinfectant matts at the entrances
too all public access points and many rural businesses including myself have
closed while the situation looked bad. This was done with no policing from
the department of agriculture or any authority - people just got up and
acted in the common interest.
Apart from the few journalists who decided that their Job was more
important than our agriculture industry. They went into the exclusion zone
in hope they might find some goolish pictures. When they were challenged by
the general public their excuse was that there was no agricultural officials
or official barriers there to stop them. Even the presenters of all RTE
radio programs closed ranks to support their colleges - the irony is that
these presenters spend a lot of their time criticizing this sort of
arrogance in other professions.
The reason I am writing is an attempt to undo the harm that other pond
life has done to our tourist industry and my pottery business- "Plague
strikes" makes much better headlines than "Disease under control"
I think our collective panic has paid off the government has now lifted most
of the restrictions.
So if you are traveling to Ireland you are all very welcome. All things
that have nothing to do with agriculture are open including - thank God -
the fishing.
There is official info at
http://www.ireland.travel.ie/events/display.asp?eventId=79 .
The exclusion zone is small - you would probably have trouble finding it.
So to conclude If you are going to join us in the summer . You are all
welcome.
-- Regards from Paul Taylor
http://www.anu.ie/westportpottery
Those that live by rhetoric will lie by it
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