Middling prices in the Midlands
Malcolm Rogers heads to the middle of Ireland to see if “Rip-off Ireland” really exists.
 Despite Dublin having fallen one place in the Expensive Cities league — still well below London — Ireland retains a reputation for being over-priced and bad value. It’s certainly not a cheap destination compared with the likes of Portugal or Spain, but whether it’s a rip-off is debatable.
Anyway, it seems very churlish to brand it as particularly expensive as it was Ryanair which pioneered the whole budget airline ethos in Europe. Without Michael O’Leary, a lot of the people complaining about high holiday prices wouldn’t be able to afford their half-dozen European breaks a year.
Nonetheless, accusations have been made and as an intrepid investigative reporter I decided to put it to the test.
My sister was coming over from Britain for a few days, so we decided to head for the middle of Ireland. We chose Tullamore, partly for sentimental reasons — we were brought up in a place called Tollymore in Co. Down so it seemed like a good idea to see what other ‘Big Hills’ were like.
More importantly, going to the middle of Ireland seemed to be good way to find somewhere representative of the whole country.
I picked Fiona up at Dublin airport and despite the fact that she was hungry I advised against ordering a sandwich there and then. The cheapest thing you can get at an airport these days is the flight — everything else costs a fortune. Instead we headed round the M50 to Finglas and stopped in Moran’s pub, just short of Glasnevin. It was lunchtime, so we had delicious cheese salad rolls (really jumbo-sized ones), plus a bottle of Ballygowan and half a lager. Total: €13.00.
 The open road now beckoned — well, to be more exact the M50, which, despite its poor reputation, was actually moving quite freely. The toll was €1.80, and soon we were on the N4 heading for Kinnegad, Tyrellspass, Kilbeggan and all points south west. The cost of petrol in Ireland is €1.08 per litre, but even as I write this a 20 per cent increase is being forecast, so you should factor that into any fly-drive holidays. But for our journey to Tullamore plus a few jaunts in the Offaly countryside cost about €35 for the full tank.
We arrived in Tullamore about 4.00pm, in time to book into the Bridge House Hotel on Distillery Lane right in the middle of the town. Two single rooms (actually, very comfortable double rooms) including breakfast were €90 per person per night. Breakfasts were substantial, nothing too fancy, but you would be unlikely to feel hungry before lunchtime. The dining area for breakfast was on the open mezzanine floor, and you could dine out on the balcony and watch early morning Tullamore drift by.
We opted for a wander round the town before dinner — Tullamore is a handsome old place, although despite its name An Tulach Mhór, there’s no sign of a particularly big hill.
The Tullamore River still winds slowly through the town and to the North the Grand Canal makes its way sedately to the Shannon. The canal first arrived in Tullamore in 1798, with the Canal Company erecting a hotel in the town in 1801 (I expect even away back then, tourists were whingeing about prices).
Tullamore is a good town for walking around — you can stroll right along the Grand Canal to Dublin if the humour takes you, or in the opposite direction westwards to the Shannon. If you take the latter route — which we did — you’ll pass through some idyllic, tranquil farmland. Constable couldn’t have come up with anything more picturesque than the old stone bridge, the hawthorn hedges, the water-lilies on the placid water surface.
 But although Offaly could make a reasonable stab at standing in for the bucolic English countryside of, say, a century ago, the presence of castles and fortified houses in the vicinity quickly remind you that this is quintessentially Irish countryside. The first ruins you come to are those of Shrah Castle, an Elizabethan house built in 1588. To the south west of the town, all well within walking distance, is the very fine demesne of Charleville Forest Castle, with a truly amazing Georgian Gothic mansion designed by Francis Johnston.
A little further out, about five-and-a-half miles south east of Tullamore on the road to Mountmellick, is the ancient churchyard of Killeigh. A monument bears the inscription: “Here lyeth the body of Maximilian O’Dempsey, Lord Viscount Clanmaliere who departed the 30th November 1690.” He was the last of the O’Dempseys, Princes of Offaly. We paid our respects and strolled back to town.
It certainly is a historic town, the home of both Irish Mist liqueur and Tullamore Dew. There’s a Victorian ambience to the place — the old gaol is a ringer for Brixton Prison and the war memorial is to those Offaly men who fell in the First World War, not to those who died in the fight for Irish freedom.
The evening was drawing on and dinner beckoned. We opted for a pub meal in the Wolftrap Pub (named after a mountain in the Slieve Bloom range). A lasagne for Fiona and a chicken wrap for me, plus a reasonably serviceable bottle of wine came to €47. I left a further €5 for the very helpful Latvian waitress with the Cork accent and we repaired to the Bridge House to sit in one of their nine (yes, nine) bars. I had a pint of lager for €3.39, while Fiona had another glass of wine at €4.10. Another two rounds brought our bar bill for the night to €22.47.
The next day it was time to see what else Offaly had to offer. Clonmacnoise would feature on any list of top places in Ireland and as Fiona’s son is called Ciaran it seemed to be the obvious place to head for.
Here at the crossroads of ancient Ireland nearly 1500 years ago, St. Ciaran founded his monastery which helped shape Christianity. On a natural gravel ridge overlooking the Shannon sits this magnificent ecclesiastical site. Several high crosses remain, plus assorted churches and gravestones. And if you manage to visit Clonmacnois in the evening with the dying sun sinking beyond the sweep of the Shannon with the ancient highway Esker Riada in the distance, then you’ll see one of the great sights of Europe.
We decided to lunch back at the hotel in Tullamore at the carvery — we were on holiday after all. The roast dinners were excellent, but myself and Fiona reflected that for a true Irish dinner your mother should be gently nagging you throughout the meal. That aside, this was a very fine meal — with drinks the total was €43.
Our Italian meal later that evening came in at €60 and a further few rounds of drink at the bar came to a further €32.
Including petrol, then, our two night stay in Tullamore came to €577.27 for the two of us, or about £200 each, not including any air fares.
So was it worth it? The Bridge House isn’t a four-star hotel and while comfortable it’s not particularly quiet if your looking for solitude. However, it is within easy reach of several fine golf courses and some excellent fishing and hill-walking areas, but it’s by no means luxury digs.
As regards restaurants, they were expensive, but generally good value. The way round high prices for food, of course, is to go self-catering. Supermarket prices are comparable to Britain (probably a good bit cheaper than in London) and of course because of the favourable exchange rate at the moment it’s certainly an attractive option. And you can taste all those specialities that are hard to come by in Britain — soda bread, wheaten farls, potato bread and really succulent rashers.
On the other hand, a couple of hundred quid might not seem too bad for a couple of day’s break in the pastoral tranquillity of the midlands, where the spirit of old Ireland lives on. On the wide estuary of the Shannon, on the Bog of Allen or the Boora Bog, this is a view of Ireland in ancient times. You’ll never come closer to time travel, and for that it doesn’t seem too expensive. |
