Irish Gathering Defies Actor’s Shakedown Tag Amid Gloom: Economy

In New York, Golden Globe winning Irish actor Gabriel Byrne lambasted a government plan to attract the diaspora to holiday in Ireland as a “shakedown.” Three-thousand miles away in Donegal, Arlene Dennis is happier.

Bookings are up at her nine-room beachfront Carnaween House, which overlooks Narin strand in the north-west corner of Ireland, where the windswept coastline draws surfers from across the globe. Visits to Ireland rose 5 percent in the first half of the year, driven by North Americans arriving for the Gathering, a year-long series of events to attract tourists.