Madam, – It dawned on me that I could stand testament to the spirit and good nature of our people. Against huge odds and sheer numbers I find myself in the running for “The Best Job in the World”, caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef Islands (see www.islandreefjob.com).
Close to 35,000 people from all over the globe applied for the position and were whittled down to 50 by Tourism Queensland who will further cull the numbers to 10. But one lucky person, Clare from Taiwan, won a public vote to be 11th finalist, the wild card for the job. She had received over 150,000 votes, but then she hails from a population of nearly 23 million. The 30,000 votes that the Irish people took the time to submit for me were enough to put me in third place, a ranking I hope the tourism board in Queensland can’t ignore.
In Ireland we’re going through a tough time financially which bleeds into all aspects of life. But, this competition has received international attention and we’ve once again shown the world that though we may be small in number we pack a punch. In short, it’s great to be Irish. You can share in my glee or disappointment come the announcement of the final 11 today. – Yours, etc,