Marshes Shopping Centre clover controversy storm in a teacup
MARSHES Shopping Centre boss Harry Traynor has said he meant no offence over the four-leafed clover that appeared in a newspaper advertisement to promote the centre's St Patrick's Day festivities last week.
The Marshes came in for severe criticism from an irate caller to Joe Duffy's Liveline programme on Friday afternoon over its ad in last week's Dundalk Democrat which used a four-leaf clover rather than the traditional three-leaf shamrock as part of its St Patrick's Day promotion.
The caller told RTE Radio it was unpatriotic not to use the 'national icon' in the ad and said he would not be frequenting the Marshes in future as a result of the advert.
However, speaking to The Dundalk Democrat this week, Mr Traynor played down the incident.
"We put an ad in the paper to celebrate what we had coming up for St Patrick's Day and whether we use a shamrock or a clover is of no real consequence in my mind.
"We paid for the ad so we have a bit of artistic licence. We didn't put it in to be PC or to offend anyone but simply to emphasise what we have on here on St Patrick's Day.
"I was taken by surprise by the whole controversy but I thought the woman who rang up towards the end of the show summed it up best when she said shamrock in Irish was clover.
"You can't please everyone though but all I'm trying to do is my best for the centre.
"The man who rang the station had complained to me by email prior to going on radio but all I will say is that I've had a far heavier mailbox since then congratulating me on what I do for the centre and for Dundalk and I see that as more of a positive than anything," said Traynor.
The Marshes have a number of top class entertainment planned for St Patrick's day including music and dance, a thrilling bungee rope, a fun fair with big wheel, face painting, bouncy castle, balloon modelling and much, much more.
The Marshes' mischievous mascot, Marley the Monkey will also be in attendance in what promises to be a day to remember in the centre.
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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