Courtesy

Left to right, Ben Whitehurst, Colin Zwirko and Gavin Sides wait at the home of Tracy Zwirko, Colin's aunt, in Matawan, New Jersey, before making a second attempt at their trip to Ireland.

Immigration Ordeal

Interview courtesy Newstalk radio

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• AUDIO: Radio ad inspired by 'Plano 3'
• 7/8: Good news for spurned Plano backpackers
• 7/7: Plano backpackers denied entry to Ireland still in limbo
• 7/4: Three Plano backpackers banned from Ireland, after being held in cell
• VIDEO: Inside an Irish detention cell with Plano backpackers
• VIDEO: Mary Murphy reports
• LINK: Ireland travel information from U.S. State Dept.
• LINK: Vacation in Ireland
• LINK: Tourism Ireland
• LINK: D4 Hotels
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DALLAS — The three Plano backpackers who were turned back at Dublin airport last week are about to become unexpected celebrities when they return to Ireland following the offer of an all-expenses-paid trip by a local hotel group.

The "Plano 3" (as they have been dubbed in the Irish media) have received requests for interviews and audio diaries and a radio advertising campaign will be run in their honor.

Anthony Kelly of D4 Hotels extended the return trip offer to the Texans during a radio interview Thursday morning on Ireland's Newstalk radio.

"I heard the story, and considering the economic position we're in at the moment, the global recession... the perception that I had really is what the thinking in America might be in relation to these three young lads being sent back from Dublin airport — which seems to be a misunderstanding — would be a negative one," Kelly said.

"Tourism is and always has been a major part of our economy, and Ireland has always been one of the premier destinations in the world for American tourists," Kelly added. "We need them to continue to come to Ireland and we enjoy it when they come here."

Kelly said D4 Hotels would fly the young men back to Ireland, put them up in their hotels for a week, feed them and show them the sights of Dublin, "and show them what a real hospitable place Ireland is." The group is also providing them with spending money.

Colin Zwirko, 21, of Plano, told Newstalk radio he was "blown away by the offer."

"I wasn't expecting something so great," he added.

The friends — Zwirko, Gavin Sides, 19, and Ben Whitehurst, 21 — landed Friday at Dublin Airport to start a backpacking trip across western Europe. They have said they were told they couldn't enter Ireland because they lacked an address where they planned to stay in Dublin and failed to produce bank statements to prove they could afford to travel.

D4 Hotels

The 'Plano 3' can look forward to accommodations like this.

They were forced to take a Delta flight home at the cost of $1,900 each after being held in a detention cell.

"We learned it the hard way. We recognize now that we were less prepared than we should have been," Zwirko said.

Tourism Ireland has written to the Garda National Immigration Bureau and to the Department of Justice about the incident, which Irish officials said happens extremely rarely.

Zwirko said he was still concerned that entering Ireland may be a problem, as the young men's passports were stamped by Irish immigration.

Kelly said he was looking forward to meeting the Texans.

"These guys ... will become the greatest tourism ambassadors for Ireland in the United States," he said, adding that they have even inspired an ad campaign for his company.

"We have decided to run a cowboy advertisement on radio in Ireland with a good Texan 'Yee Haw!' in honor of the Plano 3," Kelly said. "It is what we hope is a good Texan cowboy accent in honor of the Plano 3."

E-mail ljones@wfaa.com