Dublin Airport has hit back following comments from a DUP MP that people from the capital should be told they're in the "wrong part of the island" by Northern Ireland tourism companies.
Ian Paisley Jnr, told delegates from Visit Belfast and Visit Derry that Dublin was unfairly marketed in Northern Ireland.
He said: "It's been put to me that 70% of Dublin airport's marketing budget on the island is spent in Northern Ireland to attract people to go south.
But, a spokesman for Dublin Airport has said that it's "ludicrous" to suggest that their marketing is aimed at visitors already arriving in Northern Ireland by air.
In a letter to the editor of NewsLetter , Chief Communications Officer at Dublin Airport, Paul O'Kane said: Mr Paisley’s claim that 70% of Dublin Airport’s marketing budget is spent in Northern Ireland is false.
"As a commercial business, Dublin Airport serves the entire island of Ireland and will continue to invest in advertising to Northern Ireland residents.
"Dublin Airport will also continue to support tourism in Northern Ireland, as it has done for many years, though the provision of global connectivity to and from the island of Ireland."
Jail bosses blasted for allowing dangerous overcrowding in Dublin prisons that 'provides the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive'Following his comments on Wednesday, Paisley added that: "I'm just wondering, should we have an aggressive marketing strategy that says whenever you get off a plane in Dublin, 'Visit Derry, Visit Belfast, Visit the Causeway, why aren't you going north?', and put it right back in their face?
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"The song most Americans sing is 'Danny Boy' - that's nothing to do with the Republic of Ireland, it's to do with Northern Ireland.
"Why don't we have an aggressive strategy that tells every single Irish-American in Dublin, 'You're in the wrong part of the island, you need to be up north'."
