Francis Brennan has angered the people of Sligo with comments he made in last weekend’s Sunday Business Post. The tv personality bashed the county in an interview with his brother John.
In the piece the hotelier said, “My vision of Sligo is always outside the post office, 15 fellas smoking and collecting their dole. That’s my vision of Sligo because they wouldn’t work in a fit. They wouldn’t understand what we do in Kerry.”
The Mayor Sligo Municipal District Cllr Marie Casserly has now responded to the comments, extending an invitation to Francis to visit the county and see for himself that things have changed.
“It’s disappointing because everybody is working very hard on the ground to promote Sligo positively and I don’t think it’s a fair reflection of Sligo.
“I invite him to Sligo to have a tour of the county and to see the fantastic work that is being done. We have an awful lot of what Kerry doesn’t have. We don’t want to be like Kerry. We are Sligo and we are proud. We have something very unique to offer.
“An invitation has been extended and we will bring him around and we will show him the sights and we will show him the great culinary fare, the Sligo Food Trail, the adventure tourism. We have so much to offer. I think it makes us want to even work harder to prove what he is saying isn’t true. But we would welcome any advice Francis has to give us,” Cllr Casserly said.
John Brennan has said that Francis’ comments were taken out of context, and he was speaking of his personal experience in the county from the 1970s.
