State Papers: Aideen McGinley noted impact of September 11 on US tourist visits to the North
Dr. Aideen McGinley noted how the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York would likely lead to a decrease in tourists from the United States visiting the North, newly-released state papers show.
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Declassified civil service files show that Dr. McGinley, who was Permanent Secretary at the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) at the time identified a ‘likely reduction in the number of American tourists visiting NI’.
In a communiqué dated September 26, 2001, and released under the 20 year rule she also suggested that the events had ‘highlighted the vulnerability of organisations to attacks...not just in terms of physical safety, but also in terms of the need to safeguard electronic and paper records’.
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Hide AdDr. McGinley, who would later head up the Ilex regeneration company in Derry, offered to ‘arrange for the Public Record Office to advise Departments on the identification and backup of vital records’.