Are Cavan people canny with their cash and Kerrymen as cute as they say?

Does tough competition make the capital tops for prices? How are Border counties dealing with competition from the North? This “survey of surveys” should provide the answers.

It combines original research with the latest data from top consumer groups to separate the priciest places from the best counties for spending your cash.

Property

The cheapest homes in Ireland are in Longford, where the average three-bed semi-d can be snapped up for €143,000, according to the latest Daft.ie report. Not far behind are Roscommon, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan. The dearest homes are Dublin at €308,800, followed by Wicklow (€301k), Cork (€238k) Galway (€236k) and Kildare (€236k).

Dry Cleaning
In a recent survey of 140 dry cleaners, the cheapest among the 140 who responded to our survey was Express in Drogheda, Co Louth. Impress in Dublin’s Blanchardstown was second cheapest, with Inchicore, D7 and D8 also among the cheapest areas in the land.  However, Dubliners also get taken to the cleaners on the southside where the dearest price for a suit was at nearly €20. That’s twice as much as you could pay (at that time) in Cavan at the Virginia Express. The dearest region on average was Galway, where you will get cleaned out at €16.33 a suit.

Dentists
The cheapest was Waterford, where the average price for those procedures came to just €239. The dearest place outside Dublin was, once more, Galway city, at €294.

Doctors
Doctors’ fees don’t vary that much, they are all pretty dear, according to another NCA survey carried out last March.
The average cost for a GP visit ranged from €46.36 in Tralee/ Killarney to €52.81 in Waterford. The main factor with GP pricing — and the cost of other services surveyed by the NCA — “is the number of service providers in the area and consumers’ willingness to shop around,” according to Feargal O’Leary, assistant director, research and policy at the NCA. “I thought the Border area might be cheaper overall (for GP fees) but it turned out to be the Ennis/Gort region,” near Galway, he says.

Haircuts
Men can pay as little as €4.99 for a haircut — while women can blow 30 times that much.  This was revealed in the latest issue of Consumer Choice magazine. A random sample of hairdresser prices showed the dearest prices among 15 hairdressers surveyed nationwide was €210 for highlights with a wash, cut and blow dry on Dublin’s Dame Street. However, the same chain was quoted as charging €155+ in Cork and €136+ in Galway. Similarly, Peter Mark’s outlet on Dublin’s Henry Street was considerably cheaper than its branch across the Liffey in the St Stephen’s Green Centre, according to Consumer Choice. On average, Dublin was dearest for ladies’ hair care, followed by Cork, Limerick and Maynooth. The cheapest of the 15 chosen were Sligo (Salon 2), Carlow (Linda Maher) and Gorey (Hair Stop) in that order.  Consumer Choice advises women to trim their costs by seeking out mobile hairdressers on sites like www.gumtree.ie or Polish or Asian outlets, which tend to be much cheaper than the locals.

The cheapest of 15 barbers surveyed was Dillon Hair Studio on Dublin’s Wellington Quay, where prices start at €4.99.
Across the Liffey, men’s haircuts can be much dearer at up to €26 in one outlet near Grafton St, according to Consumer Choice.

Conclusion
Some parts of Ireland are definitely pricier than others and some offer better deals.
Galway city pops up regularly among the costliest. It’s the most expensive on average for dry cleaning, the dearest outside Dublin for dental care and has some of the priciest property and hair cuts.  Why do Galwegians pay more? Surely a student city should keep prices low?

Perhaps this is more than offset by the fact that it has money flowing in as a major tourism, educational and administration centre and is far from competitive pressures.

TripAdvisor users vote city as 23rd favourite in Europe

Who needs L’Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Élysées and the Eiffel Tower when you have the Spanish Arch, Long Walk and the Galway Hooker?

Galway has been voted a more popular tourism destination than Paris in this year’s Travellers’ Choice Destination Awards.

The awards are voted for by users of the popular tourism website TripAdvisor based on their experience of the destinations.

Galway was ranked 23rd in Europe as voted for by tourists from across the globe. Paris came in below the Irish city in 24th.

Monte Carlo, Monaco, topped the poll ahead of Heidelberg, Germany and Salzburg in Austria.

There was also acclaim for other Irish destinations as Dublin was rated the 4th best ‘Nightlife’ destination in Europe in a separate category, and Killarney was voted the 5th best ‘Outdoor and Adventure’ destination in Europe.

Westport also featured in the awards as it took the honours of the 9th best ‘Relaxation and Spa’ destination in Europe, according to voters.

Fiona Monaghan, General Manager of Fáilte Ireland West, said that the result was a boost to Galway and a credit to the people in the West of Ireland.

As well as attracting ‘big spenders’, the event could see up to 100,000 people line Salthill Promenade to watch the tri-athletes taking part.

The Ironman 70.3 Series (so called because it involves a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile cycle and 13.1 mile run) is an exhausting test of endurance that has become the fastest-growing triathlon series in the world, with 31 events internationally, leading to qualification for the World Championship in Florida. Eoin McCormack and Ronan Gilligan of E&R Events have beaten off strong international competition to be awarded the contract to hold the event in Galway for the next five years.

Connemara galway

They expect thousands of people from around Ireland and Europe to flock to Galway for the weekend-long Ironman competition and festival in September 2011. It will attract 2,500 competitors alone. It has been secured with the help of Fáilte Ireland’s Sports Events Development Fund and the Sports Council of Ireland.

Ironman will see competitors swim part of Galway Bay in Salthill, before making their way to collect bikes in Salthill Park and depart on a cycle to Connemara, through Oughterard and back through Newcastle, before a half-marathon in the city.

“We’ve been working on the logistics of this for the last eight or nine months. It will be a huge attraction for Galway. These things sell out fast, and we’d expect around 1,750 people from overseas, and 4,500 others to travel to Galway,” Mr McCormack said.

Galway hosted the race competitors for two weeks in late May and early June. Over that period some 650,000 visits were made to the race village and Salthill.

The stopover was watched by a TV audience globally of 1.3 billion and had a radio listenership of 234 million.

Volvo ocean race galway

The organisations behind a high-profile event held earlier this year in Galway have yet to pay some of their suppliers and are in talks with a number of them in a bid to get their bills discounted or rescheduled.

Businesses which supplied Volvo Race in Galway say that they have yet to be paid by the organisations behind the event.

The Volvo Ocean Race have offering 70 per cent of the total that they owe with the prospect of further payments in the future.

The owner-manager of one of the suppliers pointed out that he has over 30 staff who have to be paid every week, and added that his business cannot afford to operate in a situation where it is not being paid.

The stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race, a round-the-world sailing event in Galway, was billed as a huge success. It was originally estimated that it would attract up to 140,000 spectators or “visits” over a two-week period.

Ultimately, it was estimated that it drew some 600,000, with a considerable spin-off for the city and the region.

A spokeswoman for Let’s Do It Galway, the group behind the organisation of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Galway, confirmed that it has a number of creditors who supplied goods and services to the event that have yet to be paid.

She said that the organisation had contracts with about 1,000 suppliers, and was dealing with debts running to a “double-figure number”.

The spokeswoman said that it was seeking discounts and attempting to reschedule payments to these suppliers.

State tourism agency Fáilte Ireland pledged €8 million to the Volvo Ocean Race. The spokeswoman explained that the body is not due to pay this money until Let’s Do It Galway completes a number of audits and reports on which it is currently working.

It also has to collect some sponsorship money due from smaller, local backers.

Last year around 175,000 paying customers went through the stalls at Ballybrit over the seven days with an estimated 30,000 or so more in the free area and funfair area adjacent to the entrance tunnel opposite the stand and although Mr Moloney said the numbers could be down 10% this year, he is hopeful numbers will hold steady.

The festival spokesperson, Felim MacDermott said, “It is very fitting that Anjelica is our guest of hhonor in our 21st year, as in our very first Fleadh, in 1989, she featured with her father John in a documentary about the local Galway Blazeers hunt.”

“Anjelica will also introduce some of her films, such as James Joyce’s ‘The Dead,’ which was directed by her father, during a mini-retrospective of her work at the Fleadh.”

The 57-year-old actress, who won an Academy Award for her performance in 1985′s “Prizzi’s Honor,” will be participating in a public interview in the Town Hall Theater on July 12 so audience members can ask her questions.

Huston serves on the board of directors at the NUI Galway’s John Huston School of Film and Digital Media, named after her father.

The Galway Film Fleadh will be held from July 7 to 12.

The region around Limerick city is perfect for open air activities. “But despite their suitability none of the individual locations are overcrowded,” says Joanna McInerney from the Burren Outdoor Education Centre in Bell Harbour, County Clare.

The centre is located on the edge of the region’s iconic karst landscape, the Burren, and close to the Cliffs of Moher, and offers an extensive array of different sporting activities.

For climbing, the centre takes clients to one of the steep chalkstone cliffs in the Burren region. Each climb is not just physically demanding, “they also build your self-awareness,” says McInerney.

Giving up is not part of the day’s activities and everything is focused on reaching the top. The most important thing is the next hand grasp and pulling yourself up a few more centimetres.

Abseiling is another form of climbing whereby the cliff face is conquered from the top and not the bottom. Wearing a helmet and a safety harness, you slowly lower yourself to the foot of the cliff.

Just leaning over the cliff edge requires courage and sends a shot of adrenaline through the body. From the bottom, Crawley calmly gives directions and a short time later this test of courage is completed – now it’s time to enjoy the view.

Water sports enthusiasts are attracted to the beach at Fanore on Galway Bay where body boarding is a popular activity.

Just like surf boarding, body boarding is about riding waves to their maximum. Neoprene suits allow you to stay in the cold Atlantic waters.

From salt water to sweet water. Near Killaloe, about 30 kilometres north of Limerick city, the river Shannon widens to form Ireland’s third-largest lake.

Lough Derg provides ideal conditions for water sports and for the last 12 years its shore has been home to the University of Limerick’s Activity Centre. Most of the centre’s activities are connected with water.

West of Ireland Adventure

Paddling a canoe is one of the best ways to see the landscape surrounding Lough Derg. Kayaking is slightly more strenuous and requires some sweat from participants asthey glide over the lake’s surface.

At the point where the Shannon flows out of Lough Derg the water becomes choppy and is perfect for beginners who want to know what it’s like to ride a kayak in wild water.

Kilfinane Outdoor Education Centre south of Limerick runs outdoor orientation courses in the surrounding mountains. Courses on offer include mountain biking and valley climbing – two of the activities on offer in what is Ireland’s biggest playground for outdoor enthusiasts.

Initial works will begin next month and construction is due to begin in June just after the departure of the Volvo Ocean Race. Three cinemas are incorporated in the design, a 176 seater at basement level, a 77-seater on the second floor

Galway Arthouse Cinema

and a 105 seater on the third floor including 28 seats on the balcony. The cinemas, equipped for 35mm and digital projection, will screen films of the “widest cultural diversity and will offer programmes that are innovative in form and challenging in content.

The project was earmarked in the current Galway city development plan which recognised a deficit of culture and arts infrastructure in the city. The authority has acquired additional property in the area as part of its “cultural quarter” plans, incorporating the new cinema and the existing city museum. The development will include a cafe and a bar area, a book and DVD shop and an online archive link to the National Film Archive and specialist online cinema resources.