To all Irish teachers

To all Irish teachers, who are in charge of approving school leave for ski holidays to Irish children. If you ski yourself, you will of course know that February and early March are the weeks to go for. Neither Christmas nor Easter can match as an alternative. Too many skiers on the slopes, queues in front of the lifts, packed restaurants, stressed and unfriendly staff and all this for rip-off prices. However, if you are not a skier yourself, you may need for some assistance – which I am happy to provide here.

Please consider your options. You can say “no”, this will guarantee that the pupil along with his or her parents and friends will have to stick to the high season. By doing so, the risk of ski accidents will be higher due to the crowds on the slopes. From a macro economical point of view, a concentration to a few hi-season weeks is non-sense (demand vs. room capacity, costs of infrastructure vs. number of hi-season days etc. …should you require details on this, please let me know). Or you could agree to the school leave. Generate happy smiles, lower the risk of accidents, level off the economical impacts of hi-season disadvantages and collect credits for your brave action :-)

I am sure you do the right thing!