President Michael D Higgins and Bernadette Kelly from the Irish Tourist Assistance Service praised Italian student Guido Nasi who was left paralysed after being attacked in Fairview park 20 years ago with a bottle. He was 17 at the time.
President Michael D Higgins praised the “forgiveness and courage” shown by Guido Nasi and his mother Simonetta as he marked the 25th anniversary of Irish Tourist Assistance Service.
But 25 years on how do the ITAS (for short) help tourists in great difficulty in Ireland today?
To date the ITAS have assisted 17,000 tourists from 110 countries around the world since 1994, the idea came from Amsterdam. This year they helped 1,000 tourists from 46 countries. 11 million tourists visited Ireland last year, up 6%.
Henry McKean has been out meeting tourists and former drug addicts to find out are tourists still a target for muggers?
