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Fri 03 Mar 20077.7m tourists here last yearClose to eight million people visited Ireland last year while almost seven million left the country to visit overseas destinations, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday.There were 7.7 million overseas visits to Ireland in 2006, an increase of 10.5 per cent on 2005. Meanwhile, 6,848,000 Irish people made overseas trips last year, up 12 per cent.