Support St Patrick's Heritage Says Ritchie
14 February 2012 |
Posted by Jim Masson |
SDLP South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has welcomed the broad support offered by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment to Ms Ritchie asking her for more backing to promote heritage sites related to St Patrick.
Margaret Ritchie MP
Ms Ritchie made the call during questions following a ministerial statement on a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council’s Tourism Section.
Speaking afterwards, Ms Ritchie said: “I am pleased that Arlene Foster has broadly supported my call to promote our Patrician heritage.
“Our links to St Patrick and the other great saints of the early Christian period in Ireland are ripe for promotion as part of any comprehensive tourism strategy and as the Northern Ireland Tourist Board is promoting the theme of ‘Our Time, Our Place’ during 2012, it is essential that this aspect of the cultural formation of Ireland is given due prominence.
“I applaud the work already done on the St Patrick Signature Project and look forward to DETI doing even more to make the most of our shared heritage, particularly by investing more in car-parking, toilets, catering facilities and interpretation at our Patrician sites.”
