Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 1 Aug 1961

Vol. 191 No. 13

Committee on Finance. - Tourist Traffic Bill, 1961—Money Resolution.

Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. J. Lynch)

I move:

That for the purposes of any Act of the present session to amend and extend the Tourist Traffic Acts, 1939 to 1959, it is expedient to authorise:—

(1) the payment from time to time to Bord Fáilte Éireann out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas of such sums, not exceeding in the aggregate five million pounds, as the Board shall require;

(2) the advance out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof of such sums as may from time to time be required by the Minister for Industry and Commerce for fulfilling guarantees given under such Act;

(3) the charge on and payment out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof of the principal and interest of all securities issued for the purpose of borrowing under such Act; and

(4) the repayment out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas of advances made out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof on foot of guarantees given by the Minister for Industry and Commerce which have not been duly repaid to that Fund.

Mr. Corish

This Bill provides only for grants, not for loans?

Mr. J. Lynch

It provides for loans, as well, in this fashion. The existing legislation limits the amount of moneys the Minister may grant for payment of interest on loans which have been guaranteed by the Minister or provided otherwise than under the Minister's guarantee to £75,000 per annum. This resolution removes that ceiling of £75,000.

Mr. Corish

I want to bring to the attention of the Minister the delay in the time in which these guaranteed loans are fully completed. It takes Bord Fáilte or whoever is responsible quite a long time to conclude all the business in connection with the guaranteeing of loans. I think the Minister appreciates that himself. It is useless to vote these moneys or to guarantee this amount of money for Bord Fáilte unless the moneys will be administered properly.

I should like also to complain of slowness in the making of payments both of interest and reconstruction grants by the Board. The moneys seem to have to be virtually forced out of them. No person engaged in the building or reconstruction of a hotel can afford to wait for these loans to be completed. Furthermore, they cannot afford to wait a long time for payment by the Board of interest on the loan or for reconstruction grants.

It seems to me as well that the major resort area development has made little progress. Some major resorts have been selected for development in the past few years. The development has not been proceeded with. If there is difficulty in getting some local people to co-operate and avail of the financial facilities provided by Bord Fáilte, and the Minister, other places would be very anxious to co-operate and to avail of the assistance given by the Board.

I should also like the Minister to get Bord Fáilte, or whoever is responsible, to consider greater emphasis on the family hotel or the middle-class hotel. I do not think there should be the same emphasis on the building of a luxury type hotel that seems attractive to Americans only. If these big hotels are built we may price ourselves out of the tourist market. It has been well recognised in recent years that the best customers in our tourist industry are the British. If they are called upon to pay what they might regard as fantastic weekly charges, they will of necessity have to go to some other European country for their holidays.

I appreciate that the Minister or the Board may not be able to differentiate easily between this and that type of hotel. The Minister should exhort Bord Fáilte to make an effort to concentrate on giving assistance to the middle-class or the family hotel, so that we can attract our best customer, the British tourist.

Mr. Everett

I want to draw the Minister's attention to the fact that a public body in my native town made several representations to Bord Fáilte for a grant for the improvement of one of the most famous localities in Ireland, the place where St. Patrick landed the first time he came as a missionary to this country. Notwithstanding all the appeals made by the urban council and the development association and the submission of plans over a number of years, they always received the same excuse from Bord Fáilte. I hope that after the next election there will be a change in the whole composition of that Board, so that not only one area will be picked out for special treatment but that each area with a claim will receive impartial consideration from the officials in charge of this Board.

Mr. J. Lynch

To Deputy Corish I would say that I, too, have had experience of what I thought were undue delays in dealing with applications for interest grants by Bord Fáilte. My experience is the best argument that can be made here today.

Mr. Corish

I had that in mind.

Mr. J. Lynch

I brought the matter very forcibly to the attention of Bord Fáilte. As a result, the procedure has now been speeded up. It is inevitable in these matters that some delay will occur. There are several parties to each of these transactions—Bord Fáilte itself, the Department of Industry and Commerce and the Department of Finance. Any delays that occur between these three are matters over which I can exercise some control and have done so. Other bodies are involved—the solicitors for the applicants and the applicants themselves. It is only reasonable to assume that when, at the request of Bord Fáilte, I ask the Minister for Finance for his guarantee for a loan to a certain hotelier the title of the hotel should be in proper order. Very often, delays are occasioned by matters outside the scope of Bord Fáilte, the Department of Industry and Commerce and the Department of Finance. The fact is, however, that efforts have been made recently to expedite consideration of these applications.

I should like to comment also on Deputy Corish's suggestion that Bord Fáilte should be asked to concentrate on the family-type hotels. I think it is fair to say that the family-type hotels have been doing very well under the reconstruction grant and the bedroom grant schemes. One need only travel around the country to see the extensive improvements that have been taking place in that type of hotel. I should like again, as I did when replying to the Second Stage debate, to refute any suggestion—I am not saying Deputy Corish made it—that undue emphasis is placed by Bord Fáilte on the luxury-type hotels. In fact, there have been very few luxury hotel proposals before Bord Fáilte. There may be one or two existing at the moment, and there may be one or two in respect of which grants have been approved, but the fact remains that the same amount of grant per bedroom operates in respect of all types of hotels and the same facilities are available. I am glad to say that apparently they are being availed of to a considerable extent by what Deputy Corish described as the family-type hotel.

As far as the suggestion is concerned that one part of the country more than another is being favoured, as stated by Deputy Everett, I can only say that Bord Fáilte must be presumed to treat all these proposals objectively. Again I refer to what I said when replying to the Second Reading debate. Every Deputy who spoke had perhaps some praise for Bord Fáilte but many Deputies had some complaint about the manner in which Bord Fáilte had treated their own particular areas. Deputy Desmond complained that Crosshaven had not been treated as one of the major development resort areas. I told Deputy Desmond that if I had the deciding of that matter, Crosshaven perhaps might get subjective treatment from me because I have some attachment to it, rather than objective treatment. We should also realise that the moneys at the Board's disposal are limited; they cannot accede to all requests and they cannot treat every area as generously as some Deputies would like.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolution reported and agreed to.