TERAPROOF:User:paulmccarthyDate:10/09/2013Time:20:22:58Edition:11/09/2013ExaminerLiveXX1109Page:
7Zone:XX1
XX1 - V1
NEWS 7
Irish Examiner Wednesday 11.09.2013
Golf club apologises as 9/11 promotion leads to death threats by Timothy Johnson An American golf course has been forced to apologise after it created a grossly insensitive 9/11 discount promotion. The Tumbledown Trails in Wisconsin rapidly went from proudly unveiling its new promotion — with an ad it placed in a local paper — to threatening to close altogether on Sept 11 after a predictably vicious backlash.
Close to 3,000 people died on Sept 11, so it was not remotely surprising that the following promotion sparked outrage and upset many. “Nine holes for just $9.11! 18 for $19.11, which barely makes sense, but it’s got 9/11 in it! We’ll even throw in a cart!” the promotion read. First, the course apologised while pledging to “honour” those who had already booked under the advertised prices of
$9.11 and $19.11 and discontinued any future “commemorative” sales. Next, as a show of good faith, they then decided to donate the difference between the coupon rate and their normal rates to a 9/11 charity for any subsequent reservations. Finally, the Tumbledown Trails threatened to close altogether today amid fears of staff members being abused
and demonstrations taking place at the facilities. “We would first like to apologise to everyone that we have upset or feels we have disrespected in anyway,” read the Facebook post. “By no means did we mean to do this. “Here is what we will do this Wednesday 9-11; we will still let all that have tee times booked play for the previous rates we posted.
“Then for all other golf that day we would like to donate the dollar difference between our normal rate and the previous price for the day to the 9/11 memorial. “We hope that everyone will now see this as a positive as we really meant it to be. Again we do sincerely apologise for offending anyone. We are a family-owned business and proudly support all local charities.” According to Mark Watts,
part-owner of Tumbledown Trails, this is the third year the 9/11 discount has been made available, but the first year it has caused any outrage. “This wasn’t a moneymaking thing,” said Mr Watts. “We just wanted to find an unique way to keep this horrible tragedy in the public eye. “Now we’re getting death threats. The sheriff ’s department is sitting in the clubhouse right now.”
EU reveals proposals to control gambling
Shoppers buy Irish if price is right by Audrey Ellard Walsh Buying Irish is important for consumers, but price is still the main priority. A survey of retailers by Checkout magazine and forthcoming Irish trade show, Food & Hospitality, revealed 83% would choose price over provenance. The perception that Irish brands are more expensive than their international counterparts is shared by retailers, with 73% of respondents agreeing with the statement ‘Irish brands cost more than international brands’. The findings found that the category in which retailers feel buying Irish is of most benefit is in that of meat products. Surveyed six months after the horsemeat crisis, 82% of retailers said that buying local is ‘most important’ in the Fresh Meat category. Steve Wynne Jones, editor of Checkout magazine, said: “Price is certainly a major factor in consumers’ purchasing decisions. However, retailers are clearly seeing the benefit of stocking Irish produce. According to the survey, 70% of retailers are planning to increase the number of Irish products that are stocked in their stores. “For Irish brands, the challenge is to find a ‘balance’ and offer quality products at competitive prices. Price is still king, but retailers and consumers recognise the contribution of Irish brands and produce to our economy. It seems that if the price is right, the majority of consumers will choose to buy Irish.” Food & Hospitality Ireland takes place on Sept 18-19 at the Industries Hall in the RDS, Dublin. Features at the event will include live demonstrations from award-winning chefs, and speakers, including Bord Bia’s Paula Donoghue, publisher Norah Casey, Retail Ireland’s Frank Gleeson and Charlie Sheil, general manager of The Marker.
by Ann Cahill Europe Correspondent
Daniel Emerson of Stonewell Cider, Nohoval, Kinsale, Co Cork, with co-worker Valentin Kornev. The company picked up a ‘Golden Fork’ award in this year’s prestigious Great Taste Awards in London. Picture: Des Barry
Irish firms top menu at Great Taste Awards by Audrey Ellard Walsh and Pat Flynn A Kinsale-based company has proved pick of the bunch at this year’s Great Taste Awards. Great Taste, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, is the acknowledged benchmark for speciality food and drink. It has been described as the Oscars of the food world. Stonewell Cider, which employs three, including husband and wife Daniel and Geraldine Emerson, picked up a ‘Golden Fork’ for their medium-dry cider. Daniel, who had been working in print and marketing, took some time out after the birth of his son and began to research cider-brewing. From initially brewing cider
for his own consumption on a press gifted to him by his wife’s father, the business has grown and Stonewell produces three types of cider — medium-dry, dry, and tobairín (low alcohol). For the Emersons, this award has particular significance. “It’s peer evaluation so that’s one of the biggest accolades,” they said. “In reality, there’s no commercial bias to it so it’s affirmation that we’re doing the right thing, from a product perspective and a quality perspective.” Stonewell will now be stocked in
Harrods and Fortnum & Mason’s in London and, according to Daniel, the award has generated “a great deal” of interest for new business. Meanwhile, Clare-based firm Burren Smokehouse was one of just 125 companies whose products earned three stars — the highest accolade awarded by the scheme — in a blind tasting by more than 400 judges of almost 10,000 products. The company received three stars for its Irish Organic Salmon
Birgitta Curtin of the Burren Smokehouse.
products which were rejudged by a panel including Masterchef judge and restaurant critic Charles Campion and Michelinstarred chef Russell Brown, as well as food buyers. The awards coincided with the news that the Lisdoonvarnabased company has agreed a deal with Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, and Harrods to supply the upmarket stores with its award-winning products. The family-run company was established in 1989 by Birgitta and Peter Curtin and already supplies its products overseas. Birgitta said: “It has been a very successful few days for us and we are delighted to have been able to represent the Irish food sector so well in what is the world’s largest and most rigorous food awards scheme.”
Complaint partially upheld over presenter’s ‘vile accusations’ against non-Irish nationals by Conall Ó Fátharta A complaint made against Cork’s 96FM for remarks made by presenter Neil Prendeville about non-Irish nationals has been partially upheld by the Broadcasting Authority. The complaint made by Bryan Wall concerned remarks made by Mr Prendeville on his show on May 14 in reference to nonnationals living in Ireland. Mr Wall stated that the broadcaster’s comments were “vile accusations, laced with prejudice and with no veracity in reality whatsoever”. He claimed that, by making the comments, Mr Prendeville was placing
“non-Irish members of society at risk by associating them with what has taken place in this country over the previous five years”. Mr Wall said this was “nothing more than a racist accusation which belies the reality of the situation”. The complainant felt that nowhere in Mr Prendeville’s contribution did he state that he was summarising public opinion. Mr Wall felt he was expressing a personal view and this was a gross violation of the standards laid down by the BAI. 96FM did not respond to the complainant within the 21-day timeframe, as Mr Wall did not use the required complaint form available on its website.
Neil Prendeville: Lack of counterbalance in debate. The station told the BAI that the comments made by Mr Prendeville “summarised recent listener opinion on inequality in Irish society and were a small part
of the on-air debate and the comments cannot be viewed in isolation”. It said it disagreed wholeheartedly with the opinion of the complainant. The BAI upheld the complaint against the station in part. It said the statement by Mr Prendeville on the programme constituted an editorial statement on matters of public controversy and debate. It found the statement was pre-prepared and “evidently lacking in impartiality or objectivity and was not counterbalanced by an alternative perspective on the presenter’s statement”. It noted that alternative views were voiced by listeners that contributed to the
programme, but that this was not adequate enough of a counterbalance. For this reason, the element of the complaint relating to fairness, objectivity, and impartiality in news and current affairs was upheld. The BAI said that while Mr Prendeville’s remarks about non-Irish members of society may have offended some listeners, it “did not agree that they would support or condone discrimination contrary to the requirement of the Code of Programme Standards”. The BAI also said that Mr Wall’s complaint should have been processed in accordance with the broadcaster’s code of practice for complaints handling.
Irish Hotels Federation slams price hike claims as ‘outrageous’ by Stephen Rogers The Irish Hotels Federation has rejected as “outrageous” claims by website hotels.com that the average price of a room here has increased by as much as 5%. The site yesterday released its Hotels Price Index in which it said average nationwide hotel room prices had increased by 2%. It said the biggest increase was in Killarney, where the average paid for a room for a night was €107. However, the Irish Hotels Federation said the
The Tumbledown Trails ad promoting the 9/11 offer.
figures used for the index were “based on a very limited share of Irish hotels online sales and the sample size is only reflective of accommodation available on the hotels.com website”. “It is too small to be representative of the 60,000 hotel and guesthouse rooms available for sale every day in Ireland,” it said. “Figures from the Central Statistics Office, which are based on a nationally representative sample of prices, show that inflation in accommodation services was at 0% for the 12 months to June 2013 and was in fact down
at -1.1% for the 12 months to July 2013.” IHF president Michael Vaughan said: “It is irresponsible and misleading for hotels.com to give the impression that hotel prices have risen when this is clearly not the case as borne out by the most recent CSO figures which show prices have in fact decreased. “The fact that prices on hotels.com are higher is in no way reflective of the excellent value that is available in the market. This is nothing other than a cheap shot at publicity on the back of hotels that
are doing their best to get their industry back on an even keel.” In response, hotels.com said its index data was 100% reliable and is used as a reference tool by the media, financial analysts, investors, tourism bodies, hoteliers, and academics around the world. “In contrast to other reports, the HPI is a trend analysis showing the actual prices paid per room night by Hotels.com customers in hotels (chain and independent) as well as in options such as self-catering and bed & breakfast properties. It includes all
bookings to Ireland and individual Irish cities made through the 85 Hotels.com websites, mobile apps, and call centres around the world from January to June 2013, which is a very significant sample data set. “We are not claiming in this HPI report that Irish hoteliers have increased their prices. The HPI looks at what travellers actually paid for their accommodation in the first six months 2013. They paid slightly more, which should be good news for the hotel industry and shows signs of recovery and greater demand.”
No betting on footballers getting yellow cards, a facility for gambling addicts to lock themselves out of websites, and a limit to the amount anyone can spend are all included in the latest effort to bring gambling under control in Europe. Gambling is growing by 15% a year as more people log on to online betting and gaming sites, most of which are able to ignore national rules and regulations. About 7m people spend an estimated €13bn a year on gambling, with few real controls over minors or people who have addiction problems. An overwhelming majority of MEPs voted for a new structure that recognises the realities of online gambling and allows EU-wide rules to be implemented. However, it could be another two or three years before the plans become a reality. Former GAA president and Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly said he was delighted the European Parliament backed his proposals to help prevent match-fixing and any fraudulent or negative influence online gambling could have on sport. He wants sporting federations and gambling operators to ban betting on socalled negative events during a game, such as yellow cards, throw-ins, corner kicks, or penalty kicks. “The parliament’s report
specifically calls on clubs to introduce a self-regulatory general ban on players, coaches, referees, medical and technical staff, and those having a direct influence on a sports event could not place bets on their own sports events,” he said. “Under the co-ordination of the European Commission, I also want to see greater co-operation at European level on the prohibition of online betting illegally on match-fixing or junior sports competitions involving minors.” Justice Minister Alan Shatter introduced the Gambling Control Bill in July, but Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins said that gambling crosses national borders and needs to be tackled at an EU level. “Gambling is a huge revenue earner for member states, but online gambling is no ordinary market service — it’s an area which has seen unprecedented economic growth and, tragically, a parallel increase in addiction and other related social problems,” he said. “At present, it’s impossible to effectively implement age restrictions or indeed to protect vulnerable consumers from excessive gambling.” One of the proposals in the report would see gamblers having to set a limit on what they would spend when they register with a site. People could also exclude themselves from betting online. All this would be facilitated by introducing customer e-verification.