Serious concern was expressed at the Irish Hotels Federation annual conference today at the continuous negative feedback from overseas visitors in relation to confusing directional signs, and the inferior road network in Ireland. IHF President Mary Fitzgerald said today on the first day of its Annual Conference, that it is obvious the majority of local authority engineers with responsibility for directional signs and road improvements do not travel on the roads they are responsible for. She urged the Minister for the environment to set national standards for all local authorities to abide by on a par with international practice, as this would eliminate the varying standards of signage quality from county to county.

Ms Fitzgerald stated that it was senseless investing significant budgets in marketing campaigns to attract visitors to specific regions, who when they eventually get there - get lost. This combined with inferior quality roads creates a frustrating, negative experience for Ireland's valuable 6.2 million tourists. She highlighted the new Lee Tunnel in Cork's signage as a typical example of how a lack of clear signage not only sent people in the wrong direction, but in fact caused a danger to drivers.

"Every tourist who relates a negative experience influences a further four potential visitors who decide not to visit Ireland because of what they have heard. I would challenge all the county engineers to actually get in their cars, pretend they are a tourist and drive to a number of destinations in neighbouring counties and depend solely on road signage as their means of direction. Driving from Douglas village in Cork to Dublin recently I discovered that there is no road signage whatsoever indicating how to reach the main Dublin road via the Lee tunnel. If this is difficult for me can you just image what a tourist without a knowledge of the route would have to endure", says Mary Fitzgerald.

The IHF maintains that although roads and signage are issues highlighted again and again over the years, no action has been taken to rectify the problem. It is now fundamental that the Minister for the Environment takes full responsibility for implementing a nationwide co-ordinated strategy to give Ireland the quality of road signage that is the standard in other countries. Currently 40 bodies implement road signage and according to Ms Fitzgerald this is all too obvious, with each county having its own approach to the amount and quality of signage with no obvious linkages to neighbouring counties.

According to Mary Fitzgerald it is a deplorable situation where millions of tourists arrive in Ireland by sea and air efficiently and safely - only to find that once they leave the ferry terminal or airport they have huge difficulties trying to figure out how to get to their desired destination within the country.

"Sitting on the fence and ignoring a situation which causes huge problems for tourists, as well as our own citizens has to stop. Decisions and actions must be taken now at national level for a number of reasons, one of which is the protection of our £4 billion tourist industry," concludes Ms Fitzgerald.

The IHF recommends that: