A gentleman in India won a lovely prize. A trip to Ireland, courtesy of Tourism Ireland, was given away as part of a promotion run out of the Mumbai satellite office. The economy in India is booming, and what better way to encourage those with newly minted coin to spend their money in Ireland than to give someone a chance to experience the Emerald Isle.
Pity that no one thought to mention the guest's arrival to the people who run the customs office. When the honored guest arrived at Dublin's airport, he was promptly questioned as to his reason for the trip. Why indeed would anyone from India want to come to Ireland?
Here's my letter from Tourism Ireland said the man, a page of cead mile failte. It's a fake, said the immigration officers.
Immigration didn't believe for a minute that an Irish tourism bureaucracy would use the likes of Thomas Cook to book the hotel, because that's a Brit company. Didn't that just prove that the party from India was only looking to enter the country illegally?
A flurry of correspondence followed the honored guest's complaint to Tourism Ireland. Tourism Ireland had to explain to the Department of Arts and Tourism that they were mandated to increase the number of visitors from Asia, by the way, and would it be too much trouble for someone in immigration to be made aware of that bit of news?
With any government policy, it is best if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing, especially when the right hand is held out in friendship and the left hand is slapping the snot out of those foolish enough to believe they're welcome.
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