Possibly most of what Deputy O'Reilly has said, as far as tourism is concerned, is true, but I do not think there is any use at this stage in blaming us for being what we are because, while this may be an attractive country at the moment for tourists, I do not think anybody can maintain that it was ever a Mecca for tourists.
The object of the Bill, the object of the contribution made by the Minister, by Deputy Cosgrave and, indeed, the object of the country as a whole, is to try to make the country tourist-conscious. By a trick of fate this country in the last few years has been singled out to be a tourist centre. Because Europe at the present time is not so attractive and Britain has cut her allowances to prospective travellers to European countries, we find ourselves to-day in the position that there are hundreds and thousands of people anxious to come here for their holidays, and the plain fact is that we are not quite ready for them. That is not the Government's fault. It is not the fault of the last Government; neither is it the fault of the people generally. It just happens to be that way. We are not ready for the windfall that has come our way. It behoves every one of us, and especially the Government, with the co-operation of the hoteliers and every section of the community, to pull our weight to try to cater for the people who will undoubtedly be attracted to our shores this year and for some years to come.
It is an astonishing fact that the tourist industry here is second only to agriculture. That is something that never occurs to the man in the street until it is pointed out to him. We are inclined to laugh at tourists. We are inclined to have but little respect for the people who come here because we regard them more or less as freaks. We do not appreciate their value.
Some of our people have had the experience of going to countries like France and Italy and coming back to tell us that they were fleeced. We are pretty new in the tourist industry. If we go hell-for-leather in trying to get all we can out of our tourists they will soon get wise to us and take their custom and their money elsewhere. There is another danger in that respect. If tourists are fleeced and if a deliberate attempt is made to put up prices, that will react on the cost of living generally through the cost of increased commodities, and there is, therefore, the possibility that the very presence of tourists here will adversely affect the cost of living for our own people. There is another danger, and it is one which the Minister for Industry and Commerce should guard against. The people in Wexford have had the experience of finding themselves short of essential foodstuffs because of an influx of visitors from some of the Welsh towns. Such commodities as bacon, ham, cigarettes, butter and so on could not be purchased over certain week-ends in Wexford town because so many people came across from Wales. Now I have no objection to their coming over here, but I would ask the Minister to try to ensure that, in a case like that, the presence of tourists will not adversely affect the people of the town where the tourists are visiting.
I would join with Deputy Cosgrave in making a plea to the Minister— possibly he has no set views on the matter—to have both the publicity and the general running of the tourist industry here under the one board. Call it Bord Fáilte, or the Tourist Board—whatever you like—publicity should not be divorced from the ordinary business of the Tourist Board in any attempt to assist the industry and to assist those who run our hotels. I think both of them should go hand in hand.
I also make this complaint. As far as publicity in the past is concerned, I have had several complaints from people, especially in Britain, with regard to the infinitesimal publicity in connection with Irish resorts and the country generally compared with the publicity that other agencies for other countries give in respect of the attractions in countries in Europe and elsewhere. The offices from which information is supposed to be available are not very largely staffed, and posters, such as are seen at railway stations, are nothing compared with similar posters advertised in other countries. Generally, the efforts in regard to publicity engaged in in Britain by the Tourist Board seem to be puny alongside the efforts that are made by Britain and by the agencies of other European countries.
In respect of this Bill I want to say that I consider it a good Bill generally, but I am sceptical as to whether or not the functions of the board, as set out in Section 5, will ever be carried out to any great extent. It is my hope—I am sure it is the hope of the Minister— that they will. I believe that the money that has been proposed is a very, very small investment for an industry which has been described as second only to the agricultural industry and which is the biggest dollar earner that this country has. I agree that it is only a start. If the sum represents, to some extent, a token in that way I suppose it will be an inducement to hoteliers and other people who are interested in the tourist industry. It would be a sort of lead to the people in general to become, as I stated in the beginning, tourist-minded and try to make tourists in this country feel that Ireland is a place worth visiting.
I want to make a few comments with regard to a few functions of the board as laid down in Section 5 but, before going on to that, I want to say that one of the most important parts—if not the most important part—of the tourist industry in this country is our hoteliers, the state of the hotels and the type of accommodation they can provide. For that reason, I would suggest to the Minister that he should bring in an amendment on the Committee Stage to provide that the hoteliers be given representation on the Tourist Board. As the Bill stands, I do not think it provides for that but I think it would help the industry generally because they are people who should know the hotel business inside out. As I have said, they represent the most important part of the tourist industry because everybody will readily admit that we have the attractions here in places of historic interest. We have lakes, rivers and mountains which usually attract visitors and which are usually reckoned to be the best scenic value in the world.
Might I also at this stage risk a stabbing remark by advocating that there should be a workers' representative in the hotel business on this board? It must be admitted by all who are in the habit of dealing with hotel workers that the hotel worker knows his business inside out. Any man conversant with the work of an hotel and who is from day to day dealing with the members of his union who are on an hotel staff knows that the hotel porter, waiter or waitress would be able to tell you more about the likes and dislikes of tourists than possibly the manager will. I throw out that suggestion to the Minister. Perhaps, he would in any case give consideration to the appointment of a workers' representative on the Tourist Board.
There are just a few matters of detail which I propose to expand on the Committee Stage but, perhaps, it would be no harm to mention them now. I give them for what they are worth, qualifying my remarks by saying that I have gone to the trouble of interviewing some hotel people, who have given me this information. One of their objections is that those people who come from time to time to inspect hotels for the purpose of grading them have no experience in hotel work and management. Most of them—I do not question their competency in respect of the work for which they are trained— were originally trained in domestic economy. As students of domestic economy, they will have a certain knowledge of kitchen management, cooking and things like that. As far as hotel management is concerned, they would not have the experience or the knowledge that any person who had worked in an hotel would have for such a job.
There is also the complaint that these hotel inspectors come at inconvenient times. Possibly it is right to come at inconvenient times to test the efficiency of the staff and to catch the hotel on the wrong foot, if you like, to see in what state the hotel is. My complaint, however, is that overzealous inspectors come at some ridiculous hours of the day, between 9.30 and 10 a.m., when the bedclothes are thrown down at the end of the bed, and when the hotel is rather topsy turvy as you would expect. Neither the management of the hotel nor the hotel staff has the time to be answering questions or showing these visitors around, because it is the busiest time of the day.
I would suggest to the Tourist Board, through the Minister, that these inspectors endeavour to conduct their inspections at some other hour. I should also like to see the Tourist Board give a report on the inspections to the hotel owners or management. It is not this year or last year that I have heard this complaint but over the years I have heard the complaint that these inspectors come to the hotels look around, make a few comment and then go away. Subsequently, word is received by the hotel manager or proprietor that the grade is A, B, C or D. If it happens to be B or C, no report is given to the hotel management and there is no advice as to how the hotel could be managed with a view to getting it a better grade. I would suggest that the Tourist Board consider sending a copy of the inspector's report back to the hotel as soon as it is available.
With regard to the advancement of either grants or loans to the hotels for the improvement of accommodation, I should like the Minister to try to see also that this money is made available during the off season, the slack season—that is, between October and December. He may reply to the effect that they may carry out these improvements or renovations during October or March, but I think that the board should make an effort to see that it is available for that particular time because as everyone will appreciate it is only then, during the slack season, that hotels can carry out any big scheme of reconstruction or renovation.
I would like also to advocate that the Tourist Board have an architect, a man who has made a special study of hotel construction, who would be available to advise those who intended to enlarge or reconstruct their premises. Many of the hotels in this country were not built as hotels but as ordinary dwelling houses and when the proprietor discovered that he could make a go of the hotel business he added a room here, another room there and then started to build on top of that. The result is that we have in this country hotels that look very crooked and very funny indeed. It would not be easy to reconstruct many of our hotels especially in the old towns. I have in mind my own town. The Minister and many members of the House know it and I do not think that they could visualise any artistic improvements in our hotels. They are good hotels all right, but if extensions or renovations were to be carried out the proprietor would benefit by the advice of the board's architect if he were a man who had made a study of that type of building.
I wish to refer to some of the reports which I have only just scanned to-day. I do not know whether the Minister has responsibility or not—he had not responsibility for the mission to which I referred to-day—but why send old men to America? I mean no reflection on their age or ability, but we have young men who have made hotel management their profession. Many good men come from Shannon Airport and from hotels in Dublin who have taken up the hotel business as a career. If in future a mission is to go to America I would suggest that the majority representation should be men under 35 or 40. At least let them be young men. I do not know whether the Tourist Board could help in this respect or not, but we have young men who have taken up the hotel business as a career and are trained in that business and, consequently, I suppose one can assume that they are trained in the tourist business.
As far as general hotel work is concerned the Minister for Education should endeavour, with the cooperation of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, to set up in the big provincial centres or to have set up by the county vocational education committee classes for those who are engaged or who intend to engage in the hotel business as waiters, cooks, chefs, barmen or anything else.
I think that the Minister made an excellent contribution here to-day when he talked about the general look of the country as it appears to a tourist. We should start at the starting place. The main bulk of the visitors—I should say all the visitors—who come into this country come to—I will mention the most important first—Rosslare, Dún Laoghaire, Cobh or Shannon, and I think we should make a big effort to make those places attractive in appearance. I cannot say that they are attractive in appearance. Shannon and Dublin airports are attractive by reason of the fact that they have been recently constructed, but I do not think that one could say the same for Rosslare or the approaches to the town of Wexford. I do not think I would be impressed if I came to Rosslare for the first time and drove into the town of Wexford because—the Minister mentioned this aspect—we have so many derelict sites at the entrance to the town that the tourist would be inclined to shudder. The corporation have responsibility and the county council may have some responsibility, but if the Tourist Board or the Department of Industry and Commerce could by means of financial encouragement or even ordinary encouragement induce them to clear up those derelict sites and make the approach to these towns attractive, it would go a long way towards making the country attractive to tourists.
I suppose that this is one of the most badly sign-posted countries in the world. As a public representative I have to travel around County Wexford a good deal, and more so during election times, and as often as I have gone to South County Wexford I have been lost more often than Mr. Christenberry was in the whole country merely because the place is not sign-posted. We are peculiar in County Wexford in having too many roads. If the Tourist Board fulfilled one of their functions by inducing the Automobile Association, the R.I.A.C. or the local authority to provide many more sign-posts where they are needed, the tourist and traveller would not feel so frustrated as they must be at the present time. If a tourist comes into Rosslare Harbour and wants to go to Cork by road, I certainly do not envy him because to get from Rosslare to New Ross would take about a fortnight, especially if he were driving in the dark.
While I am on the subject of Rosslare might I mention that it is the principal port through which tourists bring their cars into the country? About 75 per cent. of the tourist cars coming into the country come through Rosslare. An important point is—the Minister may possibly have heard of it from Rosslare people before—that each car has to be transported on a railway wagon for 100 yards and then travel up over a crooked road for another quarter of a mile, and then the tourist gets it. How much better it would be if the tourist could get off the boat and step into his car on the pier, and drive off wherever he wants to go? There is a roadway or street along the pier that could be used for the transport of cars direct from the boat to the main road.
In this country and in the hotels there is not half enough information for the tourist who comes to the country. He has not the slightest idea of where he may find some place of interest, a place to fish or a place to amuse himself generally. Again, the reason is that we are not tourist-conscious and do not avail of the opportunities which present themselves to us in the tourist business. In the first place we have not guides. I do not say that we would have a lot of work for guides but there are many places in this country that need to be described to the tourist, especially the Americans who will give you all the money they can, if you show them some place and persuade them that their mother, grandmother or some of their relations lived there. There are many opportunities for guides because there are so many places of interest in the country and so many people anxious to hear about them.
With regard to the portion of the Bill which deals with the granting of licences for hotels and holiday camps, I do not know whether it is desirable that there should be any relaxation of the licensing laws even to facilitate tourists. I think the bona fide racket, as one might call it, is being too much exploited. The bona fide traveller may be served with intoxicating liquor up to 12 o'clock but the local man has to go out at ten, and I rather imagine that if there was a flat time for closing, a compromise between 10 p.m. and 12 midnight, it would be more satisfactory, because, while the visitor can go into a public-house or an hotel for a drink and can stay there until midnight, his friend who lives in the town must get out at 10 p.m., so that there is confusion and a certain sense of frustration on the part of the local man. However, all these things can be discussed on the Committee Stage.
I should like to congratulate the Minister on the introduction of this Bill, to congratulate the former Parliamentary Secretary and the members of all the missions which went to the United States, because, between them, they have given a fillip to the tourist industry which will have the effect, as I hope and believe, of making this country tourist-conscious and bringing so many much-needed dollars and business generally into the country.