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Tourism warning after French
attack
24.08.07
THE peninsula's tourism
body has said it will have to "rethink" its advice
to camper van tourists after a French family came
under attack in Fahan earlier this week.
The family had parked up for the night near the
local marina on Sunday when the rear window of their
van was smashed with stones around 12.30am. |
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The father suffered an
injury to one of his eyes, when it was hit by flying
glass, and had to be treated for his injuries at
Letterkenny General Hospital.
Garda Inspector Donal Sweeney told
InishowenNews.com, while the injury was fortunately
not serious, the incident was a |
disturbing one for the
visitors, who had been touring Ireland.
He appealed for anyone who witnessed the attack to
come forward. He particularly wanted to hear from
anyone who saw a number of youths in the area at the
time.
Gardai are also seeking information on a Skoda
Octavia car and its movements on the night in
question.
Meanwhile, Inishowen Tourism manager, Tony
McLaughlin said he was extremely annoyed to hear of
the incident.
"When I heard about it, the first thing that came to
my mind was that terrible assault on the couple in
Louth some months back," he said.
"Fortunately, this incident was nowhere near as bad
as that but it was a terrible thing to happen to
that family."
Mr. McLaughlin said there was an upsurge in European
tourists coming to Inishowen on camper van holidays.
"We would have said to people coming to us in the
past that it is safe to use the public car parks at
scenic locations in Buncrana, Malin Head,
Greencastle and other popular locations.
"But we will now have to rethink that policy and
advice people to use the official caravan and
camping sites instead. We have more than five of
them including at Quigley's Point, Greencastle,
Buncrana, Clonmany and a couple at Malin Head.
"While, 99.9% of the people coming here in camper
vans would have a very enjoyable and positive
experience, there is always that risk of an isolated
incident like the one earlier this week in Fahan,"
he added.
If you have any information regarding the incident
in the early hours of Monday in Fahan, you can
contact Buncrana Gardai on 93 61555. |
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