Tourism News

New 7 Wonders
The Cliffs of Moher are listed in the top 28 in the global online campaign for the New 7 Wonders of Nature. The third and final phase of voting is now underway with people again able to vote for the Cliffs from the selection of 28 official finalist candidates. The new 7 natural wonders will be chosen by an estimated 1 billion votes. Voting will continue throughout 2010 and 2011 with the official declaration of the new 7 wonders of nature taking place in 2011. Visit the New 7 Wonders website to register your vote.
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Swansea Cork Ferry Update
The new Swansea to Cork ferry service will commence sailing March 1st 2010. Departing Cork 21:00, arriving in Swansea at 07:00. This new service is being operated by Fastnet Line using the M.V Julia ferry. Online booking will commence from 10th December 2009. Congratulations to the campaigners and all involved, who fought so hard to restore this service between Cork and Swansea.
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Progress on £97m Titanic building
NI Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has said that work is 'progressing well' on the £97m (€107m)Titanic Signature Building in the heart of Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Last month the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to proceed with its commitment to part fund the Titanic Signature Project, to the sum of up to £43.5m (€48m).
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Travel News

New Route
Ireland West Knock Airport announce new route to Faro in the Algarve. The Ryanair twice weekly service will commence on 30th March 2010.
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Motorway to open next week - 6 months early
The last stretch of the new motorway to Dublin, between Galway and Ballinasloe is due to open on the 18th December, cutting the journey time from Galway - Dublin to just two hours.
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€10 Day Return Fares to Dublin Extended
Iarnród Éireann has announced that the €10 adult day return fare (€5 child return) to Dublin on various Leinster routes have been extended until 31st December 2009.
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Closure of Temporary Set-Down Area
Due to the ongoing works to Dublin Airports internal roads network, the temporary passenger set down area to the rear of the Airports multi-storey car parks will be closed from 3rd December. The lane adjacent to the temporary set-down area will now only service through traffic and access to Block C of the multi-storey car park. From that date, all set-down traffic must use the departures road immediately to the front of the passenger terminal. Appropriate signage will be in place to advise motorists of these changes.
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Bus Éireann Introduces Special Festive Fares on Galway Services to City
Bus Éireann has introduced a range of great value special fares to Galway city from towns around the county in the run-up to Christmas to provide easy and affordable access to the city for shopping and entertainment.
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Message from us

Recipe

Gingerbread House

To Decorate
200g bag flaked almonds
2 egg whites
500g icing sugar , plus extra to dust
125g pack mini chocolate fingers
generous selection sweets of your choice, choose your own colour theme
1 mini chocolate roll or a dipped chocolate flake
few edible silver balls

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a large bowl, then stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. If it won't quite come together, add a tiny splash of water.
Cut out the template (see below to download). Put a sheet of baking paper on your work surface and roll about one quarter of the dough to the thickness of two £1 coins. Cut out one of the sections, then slide the gingerbread, still on its baking paper, onto a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have two side walls, a front and back wall and two roof panels. Any leftover dough can be cut into Christmas trees, if you like.
Pick out the most intact flaked almonds and gently poke them into the roof sections, pointy-end first, to look like roof tiles. Bake all the sections for 12 mins or until firm and just a little darker at the edges. Leave to cool for a few mins to firm up, then trim around the templates again to give clean, sharp edges. Leave to cool completely.
Put the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon into a piping bag with a medium nozzle. Pipe generous snakes of icing along the wall edges, one by one, to join the walls together. Use a small bowl to support the walls from the inside, then allow to dry, ideally for a few hours.
Once dry, remove the supports and fix the roof panels on. The angle is steep so you may need to hold these on firmly for a few mins until the icing starts to dry. Dry completely, ideally overnight. To decorate, pipe a little icing along the length of 20 mini chocolate fingers and stick these lengthways onto the side walls of the house. Use three, upright, for the door. Using the icing, stick sweets around the door and on the front of the house. To make the icicles, start with the nozzle at a 90-degree angle to the roof and squeeze out a pea-sized blob of icing. Keeping the pressure on, pull the nozzle down and then off - the icing will pull away, leaving a pointy trail. Repeat all around the front of the house. Cut the chocolate mini roll or dipped Flake on an angle, then fix with icing to make a chimney. Pipe a little icing around the top. If you've made gingerbread trees, decorate these now, too, topping each with a silver ball, if using. Dust the roof with icing sugar for a snowy effect. Lay a winding path of sweets, and fix gingerbread trees around and about using blobs of icing. Your gingerbread house will be edible for about a week but will last a lot longer.
More
Print Gingerbread House Template

Brainteaser

Anagrams
All ten words are connected with Christmas.
1. neiscxpe - 1 word
2. ridernee - 1 word
3. yiolhnylvda - 3 words (5,3,3)
4. gulloye - 2 words (4,3)
5. mnilueedwl - 2 words (6,4)
6. rgpaweppaiprn - 2 words (8,5)
7. rroaensbibrdet - 3 words (5,3,6)
8. tosmhstgrkcsincia - 2 words (9,8)
9. cdsudpitinhsmrag - 2 words (9,7)
10. smoanwn - 2 words (4,3)
Answers

Final Thought

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.
Larry Wilde



Síocháin na Nollag inár measc

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