Tourism forum rejects 'ad hoc' labelling

Dear sir - We were surprised by the use of the word 'ad hoc' in your article covering the last meeting of Kells Town Council in last week's issue of the Meath Chronicle, 'Council backing for plan to lease Kells Heritage Centre to Trinity'. Kells Tourism Forum is in no sense an 'ad hoc' body. The Forum was set up to increase visitor numbers to Kells using the guidelines of Fáilte Ireland's 'Maximise the Potential of Your Heritage Town' - a seven point plan that involves disseminating information, improving signage, and measuring visitor experiences. We are currently completing an extremely high quality tourist brochure for Kells and Meath that will be launched in October 2011, and distributed throughout all the tourist offices in Ireland. Meath Partnership part-funded this and the rest came through fundraising, with the exceptional efforts of Kells Anglers who are to be commended for their drive and enthusiasm. We received a visit from the Deputy American Ambassador to kick start the St Patrick's Day festivities in March. He had a fantastic time in Kells and he is still speaking about Kells in high level meetings. Several high level embassy staff have subsequently accepted Kells Angler's invitation to come fishing, and also to take up the Headfort Golf Club's offer of golf. On foot of President Obama's visit to Ireland in May 2011, we presented a copy of the Book of Kells to the US Embassy and a short history of Kells and why the Book has so much relevance to our town. We invited the President to visit Kells on his next mooted visit to Ireland. Evidence that the gift reached the White House came with a letter from President Obama and Michelle Obama, thanking Kells for the gift. Kells Town Council paid for the copy of the Book of Kells, and local artist Patrick Morris gave his services free by carving a beautiful book shrine of Irish oak to accompany it. We have been working closely with Meath Partnership in facilitating the TÚS programme, which will see several people employed for the next year to work on community projects in Kells. We are campaigning for a return of a volume of the Book of Kells. The Book is in four volumes, and we want two volumes in Kells, while Trinity retains two also. it could be housed in a brand new purpose built centre, where it would be safe and carefully preserved. We are more than happy to work with Kells Town Council, Meath Partnership, Chamber of Commerce and all the voluntary groups. We assume that all are working towards the same end. We appreciate the comments of support from Cllr Conor Ferguson, Cllr Sarah Reilly, Cllr Oliver Sweeney and Cllr Bryan Reilly. We intend to offer people all over County Meath an opportunity to sign the petition to bring back the Book of Kells over the coming weeks. Your readers can also visit www.kellstourism.com and sign the petition online. Yours, Lucy O'Reilly, Secretary, Kells Tourism Forum.