Seanad debates
Wednesday, 27 November 2002
National Tourism Development Authority Bill, 2002: Second Stage.
My father started a holiday camp in 1947 called Red Island, which was in Skerries, in north County Dublin. It was just after the Second World War. There were beds for 500 guests who all came from the north of England: Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and so on. His objective was to get them to come back again and it worked very well. That is the business I grew up in. I would love to think his success was due to my eight year old self, backing him up but I am not sure I would get away with that. It was a great way to grow up and a great business experience as well. It was a perfect tourism product for that time. We did not have competition then from Spain, Portugal, Italy and everywhere else. It suited the England of that day also because access elsewhere was not that easy. The business continued for over 20 years and we even made a little money.
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