Full of Blarney?

Tim Lacy passed this link along to me about the legitimacy of the Blarney Stone. Apparently, a recent study questions the authenticity of the Blarney Stone, the famous pebble at Blarney Castle in County Cork. After reading the posting, the first thing I thought was: does it matter if the current Blarney stone is the original? The posting implies that the current stone isn't the original because the current means for accessing it are not the same as the original ones. The implication, therefore, is that the "Blarney Stone" was designated in a different, safer location at the Castle. In terms of historical accuracy this could be a particularly sticky issue. Perhaps an archaeological historian and a public historian in Ireland could team up to solve this question. However, for the current state of Irish tourism, it seems to me that anything to generate more interest in the Blarney Stone is a good thing. Tourism has been an important economic endeavor in Ireland since the early 20th century at least. Various Irish and Irish-American companies advertised vacations and trips to Ireland in the (Irish-)American press in the 1910s and 1920s. My research has been predominantly limited to The Chicago Citizen, the AOH's newspaper in Chicago. The Blarney Stone is as crucial to Irish tourism as the Guinness Brewery, Croag Patrick, the Giant's Causeway, and the Cliffs of Mohr. If the controversy brings more people to Ireland to check out the Blarney Stone, even if they're skeptics, I don't see how that's a bad thing as this has the potential to increase interest in Ireland writ large. And that, can only be a good thing for those interested in all things Irish and Irish history.