ETHICAL TRAVELLER: Catherine Mackon responsible tourism
FÁILTE IRELAND must be cursing the baggage of its innate green branding. It can't depend on "green" as a marketing tool anymore, because it no longer simply means fields and forests. It brings with it a plethora of political green debates as well as a bevy of bandwagon jumpers, myself included, who want to see if Ireland is doing its bit to be greener.
Back in January, Aidan Pender, director of policy and industry development at Fáilte Ireland, was speaking at the first All Ireland Ecotourism Conference. "I'm no expert on ecotourism, but I'm happy to get my head around it," he confessed. Personally, I think he was underplaying his knowledge, as Fáilte Ireland has recently taken the progressive step of appointing an environmental manager.
The conference was hosted by Greenbox, a cross-Border organisation based in Manorhamilton. Greenbox has been helping small tourism providers "get their heads around" ecotourism since 2002. Its success has been recognised internationally, most recently becoming a finalist in the Best Destination category of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2007.
They have, literally, created a green box in the northeast of Ireland, incorporating Fermanagh, Leitrim, west Cavan, north Sligo, south Donegal and northwest Monaghan. It offers farmers, yoga teachers, canoeists, restaurant owners and cheese makers, to name but a few, an opportunity to create and market green tourism products. With the help of strict green accreditation scheme, EU Flower, these people aim not only to protect the countryside they are selling, but also ensure that the financial benefits stay in these areas.
It promotes a wide variety of holidays, such as Donegal's Creevy Co-operative which has restored derelict stone buildings into holiday cottages in remote parts of the Ballyshannon coastline. Then there is Jerome O'Loughlin, the young energetic surfer and mountain biker, and Blue Badge Guide which offers everything from day tours to nature reserves to multi-day sport holidays, all from a green minibus which runs on vegetable oil.
The eco-cabins at Ard Nahoo, Dromahaire, Co Leitrim, have every green feature you could wish for with an organic vegetable box waiting for you on arrival. Ard na Breatha farm, a guesthouse on the outskirts of Donegal town, is eco-friendly throughout and it has a restaurant with a fine menu of local and seasonal produce.
The chef is owner, and retrained farmer, Albert, who runs this hideout in the foothills of the Bluestack Mountains with his wife Theresa.
This green bandwagon is getting more and more crowded by the day and if Fáilte Ireland continues to use Greenbox as inspiration, it might even start to get its head around the notion of taking on the rest of the country's tourism providers and show the world that Ireland can live up to its branding.
For more details, see www.greenbox.ie
Catherine Mack is author of Ecoescape Ireland, to be published by Green Guides, in May. www.ecoescape.org