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Ireland's top 20 attractions, both fee paying and free, revealed

Fáilte Ireland has published its annual list of Ireland’s most popular visitor attractions in 2017.

THE GUINNESS STOREHOUSE is Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction, with visitor numbers increasing by 4% to 1,711,281.

The Guinness Storehouse Gate DRTA DRTA

Fáilte Ireland has published its annual list of Ireland’s most popular visitor attractions in 2017.

It looks at both fee charging and free attractions. In the fee charging list, the Cliffs of Moher came in second, while Dublin Zoo was third.

Cliffs of Moher 2 (1)

The National Gallery of Ireland topped the list of ‘free to enter’ attractions, surpassing the one million mark for the first time with a 41% increase in visitors.

New entrants Castletown House and Parklands in Kildare and Glendalough in Wicklow came in second and third.

Overall, the top 20 fee-charging attractions during 2017 were:

  1. Guinness Storehouse – 1,711,281 (+4%)
  2. Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience – 1,527,000 (+7%)
  3. Dublin Zoo – 1,264,300 (+10%)
  4. National Aquatic Centre – 1,099,756 (+6%)
  5. Book of Kells – 983,410 (+10%)
  6. Tayto Park  - 735,000
  7. St Patrick’s Cathedral  - 603,000
  8. Kylemore Abbey & Gardens  - 558,000
  9. Muckross House Gardens and Traditional Farm - 552,923
  10. Powerscourt Gardens & Waterfall - 501,601
  11. Fota Wildlife Park - 455,559
  12. Blarney Castle & Gardens - 450,000
  13. Kilmainham Gaol - 425,000
  14. Kilkenny Castle - 418,685
  15. Rock of Cashel - 376,488
  16. Dublin Castle  - 371,000
  17. Bunratty Castle & Folk Park  - 369,275
  18. Brú na Boinne Newgrange  - 281,103
  19. Christ Church Cathedral  - 238,285
  20. Glenveagh Castle and Grounds  - 211,000

Amongst Ireland’s ‘free to enter’ attractions, the National Gallery of Ireland had a total of 1,065,929 visitors.

National Gallery of Ireland (2)

Ireland’s top 20 ‘free to enter’ attractions for 2017 were:

  1. The National Gallery of Ireland – 1,065,929 (+41%)
  2. Castletown House Parklands – 666,541
  3. Glendalough Site – 639,826
  4. National Botanic Gardens – 569,652 (-2%)
  5. DLR LexIcon (Dun Laoighaire Rathdown) – 525,708 (+12%)
  6. Irish Museum of Modern Art  -  489,295
  7. Doneraile Wildlife Park  - 480,000
  8. National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, Kildare St  - 474,564
  9. Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin  - 407,529
  10. Farmleigh  - 359,432
  11. Kilkenny Castle Parklands  - 336,315
  12. Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons  - 350,000
  13. National Museum of Ireland – Natural History, Merrion St - 336,412
  14. Chester Beatty Library  - 335,875
  15. National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks  - 234,336
  16. Connemara National Park - 221,713
  17. The National Library of Ireland  - 197,245
  18. Crawford Art  Gallery  - 188,814
  19. Malin Head Viewing Point  - 172,329
  20. Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane  - 167,410

Welcoming another record year for visitors, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Product Development, Orla Carroll said:

“Fáilte Ireland invests in new and compelling attractions throughout the country because we know that they bring visitors from around the world to our shores.”

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Apr 6th 2021, 8:48 PM

    I’m generally not a green freaky type but I do value life in its entirety, no, not vegan either lol. This, to me, is senseless waste of life, leading to extinction of life forms, and for what. It’s not like it’s helping world hunger. It’s so very sad and those responsible should feel great shame.

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    Mute Derek Lyster
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    Apr 6th 2021, 9:00 PM

    @Anna Carr: “and for what”? it makes money for for people and makes the big co-ops lots of money.

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    Mute Lad
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    Apr 7th 2021, 5:16 AM

    @Anna Carr: genuine question but why do Irish people see green people as freaks or vegans as a joke?

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    Mute Babs Ruch
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    Apr 7th 2021, 9:46 AM

    @Lad: I’m not sure about green, but the opinion about vegans, I dare say it’s the inability to grasp a concept differing from what they and their parents grew up with. Possibly also the refusal to even consider in the slightest the thought of learning new skills and change the way of earning income. Who knows. I’m often thinking about a story my grandmother told me when I was young.

    A man had trained as an apple picker and for 20 years made a good living reaching up into the trees harvesting apples. Then the orchard burned down due to a terrible wildfire and work was only available in the neighbouring town, and only as a potato harvester. The man refused the work because after 20 years of reaching up into the apple trees, he didn’t want to learn how to bend down to pick up potatoes. And so he got no work and died of hunger.

    The ability to look towards the future, to learn skills that are in demand and that actually have a future, is what I often see totally lacking in people here sadly. So much about a mind set speculation.

    As to the article, I’m as usual totally amazed at the short sightedness of everybody involved. Instead of looking over the brim of the bowl and seeing the whole (our seas and oceans on this planet), talk is about this little part of it. If I were sarcastic, I would say, fear not, for in a small decade the oceans will be dead zones, there’ll be no fish to catch, and the air quality on our planet will be so bad that survival will be questionable. Yes, the oceans are a larger oxygen provider than the rain forests. Everyone intelligent enough to have seen Seaspiracy et al. and understood what was aid and shown, knows the solution to the problem. Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.

    Opinions are like noses. Everybody has one. And that’s my opinion. No need for verbal abuse if you have a different one.

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    Mute Derek Lyster
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    Apr 6th 2021, 9:01 PM

    The pillaging of the sea continues unabated.

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    Mute Patrick Corr
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    Apr 6th 2021, 9:14 PM

    The biggest virus on this planet is the human race.

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    Mute Padraig Kavanagh
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    Apr 6th 2021, 9:43 PM

    @Patrick Corr: That’s an insult to viruses. They normally don’t kill their host.

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    Mute Babs Ruch
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    Apr 7th 2021, 9:46 AM

    @Padraig Kavanagh: LOL I admit I must agree with you ;)

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    Mute Sadie b
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    Apr 6th 2021, 10:33 PM

    Seaspriacy a must watch on Netflix, very factual about sea vessels and the damage they cause the sea life.

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    Mute MB
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    Apr 6th 2021, 10:57 PM

    @Sadie b: agree seaspiracy is a documentary everybody needs to see urgently! A revolution is needed before we destroy the oceans.

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    Mute Brian Byrne
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    Apr 6th 2021, 11:02 PM

    @Sadie b: if the oceans die then we die. Industrial fishing the biggest polluter on the planet and speeding up the path to self destruction. Agree seaspiracy is a must watch

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    Mute Felicity Hensen
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    Apr 7th 2021, 12:38 AM

    @MB: No revolution needed, just an amending of eating habits.

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    Mute Brendan Barry
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    Apr 7th 2021, 8:55 AM

    @Sadie b: I watched Seaspiracy and think each individual section should be addressed separately. Below is a view by Ray Holborn who is respected internationally by many on both sides of the debate.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR31alvR1MulER5VL7vlwDPNEY2H5mE5A-uB1J-Z5hdVMEczotp7tRt_UzY&v=dZwbsggs6Lc&feature=youtu.be#menu

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    Mute Babs Ruch
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    Apr 7th 2021, 10:12 AM

    @Brendan Barry: Ray Hilborn has a vested interest and his points are so totally out of date and off the mark, I doubt anybody with an open mind would agree with him. The argument of animals being killed in crop farming has been refuted years ago due to it’s incorrect relation as proven by scientific studies and evidence. And he really misses the mark when he talks about well managed fisheries. What Seaspiracy is showing (amongst other things) is the devastating impact of the gigantic fishing fleets. The native people doing coastal fishing for their dinner in Africa or in the Pacific are certainly no threat to the oceans.

    What Hilborn totally ignores is the point of unnecessary and intentional suffering and killing. Just saying.

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    Mute Pat Forster
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    Apr 6th 2021, 9:49 PM

    A very interesting but depressing report. So we are told to lay off criticising the fishermen for the vast numbers of creatures suffering as by-catches as they will stop reporting them. Who’s to say they are reporting accurately anyway? The figures could be much greater and we will only know when endangered species have disapeared altogether. Nobody is there to see what is actually happening on these boats. I fear that like so much legislation meant to protect our struggling planet new regulations will be either ignored or go unenforced.

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    Mute Padraig O'M
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    Apr 6th 2021, 11:00 PM

    @Pat Forster: perhaps cameras on every vessel in the Irish Sea, accessible by a monitoring agency? It would be a huge operation, but to allow these guys do what they want and self report is crazy!

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    Mute Coilm Ó’Fearghail
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    Apr 7th 2021, 11:25 AM

    @Padraig O’M: Absolutely not! I’d imagine a large amount of super trawlers have cameras on board and there I can agree that companies should be obliged to show evidence that they observe practise on board their vessels and ensure it’s moral. There are fishermen who do not cause harm at all to the environment and entire communities who rely on people like these hardworking people of goodwill for fish. Small trawlers operated by father and son or whatever should not be effectively stalked by the government or any agency. That would also cost millions for the infrastructure alone and monitoring each vessel would require hundreds of staff. What is essential is that the European Union’s opinion on what our national territorial waters are is not listened to. The navy should not have ships stuck in dry dock half of the year because of poor pay. The pay must be increased so that our naval officers can protect Irish waters from foreign super trawlers, who probably aren’t familiar in the first with Irish maritime law.

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    Mute Seosamh Ohuaine
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    Apr 6th 2021, 10:47 PM

    We have a fantast fisheries here and we allow it to be raped and pillaged by foreign fishermen. And I know people will say we get money from the eu. Money cant be eaten. We giving future generations food away purely out of greed

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    Mute HonestGrump
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    Apr 6th 2021, 10:35 PM

    The EU have only just begun trawling our waters. #KillingUsSlowly

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    Mute john mounsey
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    Apr 7th 2021, 8:41 AM

    Good to hear of better monitoring of discards. I’d like the idea of cameras on every shipping vessel and personally think a government representative should be on every trawler to document all activities. Be nice if we could start being more proactive with our great sea resource.

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    Mute The world outside the M50
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    Apr 7th 2021, 5:02 PM

    The answer is quite simple – so simple in fact that ye will all reject it in an attempt to keep the status quo.
    Stop abusing animals – all animals – if you love your dog/cat then love chickens/cows/pigs.
    You can look down on Vegans all you like but that is the plain and simple path – Save Lives – Go Vegan

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    Mute Joan Grennan
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    Apr 8th 2021, 8:00 PM

    The average person feels very helpless in the face of all this .We know that the ocean will eventually be destroyed by pollution ,plastic, over fishing etc etc bu what to do .And indeed by all accounts any attempt to challenge the status quo brings swift reprisals .

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    Mute Gary ODonnell
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    Apr 7th 2021, 9:21 PM

    DON’T EAT FISH .and never will again after seeing Seaspiracy

    1
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