Deputies Lindsay, O'Donnell and T. Lynch raised various matters in connection with the promotional activities of Bord Fáilte in Great Britain. Deputy Lindsay asked whether Bord Fáilte were present at the ASTA Convention. This is a convention of travel associations at which bodies like Bord Fáilte are enabled to do promotional work and at which they can advertise their wares, so to speak. I understand that Bord Fáilte have been very highly commended for the way they presented the image of this country at a recent ASTA convention. There, they meet the people who sell travel, who provide package tours and who arrange reservations for people coming to this country. Indeed, I should make it clear that Bord Fáilte have immensely expanded the work of bringing travel writers, travel agents and even counter clerks to this country. They ensure that articles on Irish fishing facilities appear in the angling journals. They have one whole-time organiser and six part-time organisers in England alone for bringing anglers to this country. They have campaigns that have developed from five of the principal British towns and cities. There are four Bord Fáilte officers in Great Britain with a staff of eight. They make tens of thousands of contacts during the year. Bord Fáilte actually did a little market research in ascertaining what percentage of the contacts they made from their offices resulted in travel and it was found that it was reasonably satisfactory.
Deputies James Tully and O'Hara referred again to hotel accommodation and suggested that in the previous period only A class hotels seemed to benefit from the Bord Fáilte grant. In fact, in hotels of this class, some 1,500 beds were made available through the grants. As I have already indicated, the scope of the grants has been increased in order to encourage the growth of hotel accommodation with moderate prices. This question is being very closely watched because in most parts of the country the A class accommodation is reasonably satisfactory and what is required is more of the moderate priced accommodation.
As Deputies no doubt know, Bord Fáilte have also extended and prepared a list of unregistered accommodation amounting to some 5,000 to 6,000 beds and that work is continuing this year. It takes a good deal of time for the inspectors to get around but each year the numbers are added to. In addition to that, work has now begun for about two years on inspecting farmhouses in order to encourage the owners of farms to provide accommodation for guests. I have stressed to Bord Fáilte the very urgent necessity of encouraging the development of this class of accommodation.
The Deputy referred to the Bord Fáilte London offices. Bord Fáilte will have new offices in Bond Street not long from now. They will be found very satisfactory and will be in a strategic position from the standpoint of making contacts with people who desire information on travel to Ireland.
Deputy Molloy asked for particulars of the position in regard to the resort development scheme at Salthill. As Deputy Molloy knows, the South Park scheme, Salthill Park, has been completed. The promenade extension has been completed. Then there are schemes for a car park, groynes and shore works of various kinds and for improvements to the golf club. Other works are in hand and will be proceeded with as soon as possible. Deputy Molloy and other Deputies from Galway and the county must know that the works will have to be carried out through the finances available each year from the promotional fund.
Deputy O'Hara raised various questions in relation to the tourist potential in Enniscrone. He asked whether the angling facilities in his constituency are fully publicised. The answer is that there is a complete angling guide to the whole country with the names of the secretaries in charge of the various angling development associations. There are fairly well-developed angling associations in every county. I do not think he need fear that the angling potential of his area has been neglected. But, of course, one of the essential features of all the promotional work for angling is that there should be a live local development association. Indeed these local development associations have done very splendid work and set a headline for the whole country by their activities during the past five years.
Deputy Clinton raised a very interesting question about the connection between regional companies, the tourist companies and the Department of Local Government and asked what liaison exists. As Deputies know, there are some areas where resort development grants are available, where they have been classified by Bord Fáilte as areas suitable for this particular kind of assistance and there are other areas where the amenity grants provided by the Department of Local Government and available to associations as well as to local authorities, or a combination thereof, cover a great many of the improvements needed for the benefit of tourists. Bord Fáilte do co-operate with the Department of Local Government. They have been co-operating in relation to the Planning Acts. I think it can be said that there is adequate liaison between the regional companies, the Department of Local Government and Bord Fáilte. At least, I have had no complaints that there is any kind of failure to co-ordinate when this is required.
Deputy Clinton also spoke of the Tidy Towns Competition. I agree that this is of very great importance. I do not know why I missed it from my Estimate speech. I suppose I could not say everything. I suppose I could not deal with every aspect, although I tried to cover the entire ground. I agree with the Deputy that the Tidy Towns Competition is of immense importance to the future of the country not only from the point of view of tourism but also from the point of view of our own enjoyment of our towns and villages.
Deputy Clinton also asked about the canal lock at Lucan. I did not quite understand what the problem was, but if he will write to me, I shall let him know the position.
Deputy Lindsay spoke in a general way about the future development of Shannon. A number of Deputies referred to this, including Deputy T. O'Donnell, who asked me to make some statement about the importance of Shannon. I am very glad to do it. I regard Shannon Airport as the natural centre for tourism in the west. I hope that it has a very great future. The number of terminal passengers there has been increasing and, as I say, it is the obvious centre for tourism in the west. As I indicated in my Estimate speech, I hope that all the regional companies in the area will realise the importance of the part they can play in maintaining Shannon and in securing even greater growth in traffic to and from the airport.
Deputy Lindsay also referred to the fact that airports in this country lose money when depreciation and interest on capital are included. I have dealt with that matter before. The practice of the allocation of costs to an airport varies throughout the world. In America, for example, air traffic control is regarded by the owners of an airport as a national charge, as merely an extension of police facilities. Equally, in some countries the meteorological information supplied to airports is regarded as part of the general meterological service and no special amount is debited to an airport account by reason of the fact that there is a concentration of meteorological information there. We choose to put on the airport operation account the whole of the air traffic control expenses and all the meteorological expenses applicable and, as a result, our airports are in deficit. That is all I can say. It is simply a matter of how one wishes to look at it.
Deputy Lindsay also referred to the general accountancy position of the company. I dealt with that fully in my Estimate speech, and made it clear that the air company had to develop traffic routes without being able to earn a surplus on the profitable routes which would provide the capital for expanding traffic in other directions. As a result, I do not see any hope of their remunerating the capital provided for earlier development. In respect of future capital, with the exception of a sum of £2 million of State capital for part of the cost of the four BAC One-Eleven aircraft, they are being asked to remunerate capital and I hope that will continue to be the position.
Deputy Lindsay and Deputy P. O'Donnell made reference to the position occasioned by the American authorities in relation to the amount that tourists can bring back in the way of duty-free goods purchased at the airports and to other suggested ways of improving the American dollar balance of trade. All I can say is we have made representations to the American authorities pointing out the fact that any changes of the kind indicated would be damaging to this country. We have done our best in regard to that.
Deputy Lindsay asked a question on why the number of landings continued to decrease at Shannon Airport. The answer is aircraft are getting bigger. More aircraft are overflying. That can be illustrated by the fact that in 1960 at Shannon Airport there were 8,380 landings. In 1964 it fell to 4.874 landings. In the meantime, the number of overflights had doubled but, as Deputy Lindsay knows, there was a decline in the total traffic passing through Shannon, at least for the time being, but in 1963 and in 1964 there was an actual increase in total traffic.
Deputy Casey made some references to Cork Airport, and seemed to imply that I had responsibility for delaying the decision to construct the airport. That is not true at all. Cork Airport was built as a result of a Fianna Fáil decision and I had nothing to do with the delay which was occasioned at the earlier period but we need not go back on that at this stage.
Deputy Lindsay referred to the public address system being defective, in connection with an airport. If he writes to me, I shall make inquiries. Deputy Lemass suggested that the air companies had not purchased enough planes. Aerlinte has ordered another Boeing to be delivered next year. The present fleet of transatlantic aircraft offers 30 per cent more capacity this year than last year. They are exchanging Freindships for Viscounts during the course of this year. This will also increase capacity and I think they are doing everything possible to meet the demands made on them. Of course, there is a great peak at the height of the summer and it is very difficult to meet it, in the sense that it is difficult to provide passengers with seats on planes at exactly the hour satisfactory to them. I think it will be found they are doing a good job in regard to that also.
In reply to Deputy Lemass, a transatlantic service to Canada is contemplated in the very near future. Deputy T. O'Donnell, I was glad to hear, is helping the Shannonside Regional Development Company in its development work and referred to the need for more moderate priced accommodation. I hope people will extend their premises as a result of the new grants. As the Deputy knows, total investment in hotel and guesthouses since 1958, including the private capital invested, is of the order of £8 million to £10 million, which shows that many people in this country have faith in the tourist business. I hope there will be more accommodation in the area. He also referred to shore fishing and sea angling in the Shannonside area. I suppose he was referring to the very fine shore angling facilities along the coast of Clare and to the sea angling in the various ports. The answer is there must be accommodation, that there must be boats available and that there must be an active local development association, so that sea angling will prosper. It has prospered in many other areas. In certain areas there is either a lack of boats or a lack of interest on the part of the local development association in bringing tourists to the area. Bord Fáilte are doing their best to organise that and the Inland Fisheries Trust are organising on the technical side, and we hope to see sea angling grow in the future.
The question of the purchase of KLM aircraft by Aer Lingus was raised by a Deputy who said that the purchase might not be a good proposition because the aircraft might not be in good condition. The answer is KLM aircraft have always been splendidly maintained and Aer Lingus with their great reputation for safety in the air would hardly buy aircraft secondhand unless they were sure these aircraft were in good condition. Subject to the usual checks and maintanance, they would ensure that these aircraft were suitable for their purpose.
Deputy Molloy raised a question with regard to our Meteorological Service and suggested that an additional meterological station might be established at Galway. This may well be the case in the future although I cannot say on what date the decision would be made. The Deputy will be interested to know that the rainfall, whatever there is of it, is about equal at Claremorris where there is a meteorological station, and Galway. I can assure the Deputy that the Meteorological Service, allowing for scientific difficulties of no mean order, is reasonably accurate in its predictions. I would say that it is about 80 per cent correct and at certain times of the year its accuracy is even greater. Every effort is made to make use of the most modern scientific devices for this purpose and I do not think the Deputy need have fear that as a result of the absence of a meteorological station at Galway, the rainfall predictions are incorrect.
