Local councillors have been urged not to stop sending representative abroad for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
The trips have in the past been regularly branded as mere junkets.
But a consultant on developing a strategy for engaging with those abroad says research shows they are ‘hugely important’ in creating and maintaining links that have many benefits.
Mark Conway, of Tyrone based company Venture Network, told Sligo councillors in a presentation yesterday on developing a Diaspora Strategy for the next five years that they would stop such trips at their peril.
