Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 22 Mar 1972

Vol. 259 No. 14

Committee on Finance. - Vote 41: Transport and Power.

Minister for Transport and Power (Mr. B. Lenihan)

I move:

That a supplementary sum not exceeding £214,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1972, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Transport and Power, including certain services administered by that Office, and for payment of sundry grants-in-aid.

The main purpose of the Supplementary Estimate is to provide an additional £350,000 for Bord Fáilte for interest grants on loans raised by developers for accommodation and other tourist projects. It will bring the total allocation for this purpose to £1,080,000 for 1971-72 and will enable the board to meet in full claims due for interest grants in the current year. Interest grant funds are provided under subhead F1 of my Department's Vote and the additional £350,000 will bring the total for the subhead to £4,430,000.

The House is aware that the past three tourist seasons have been disappointing, mainly because of unrest in Northern Ireland. Earnings from tourism for 1971 were provisionally estimated by Bord Fáilte at £103.9 million. This is a modest increase on the 1970 figure of £99.1 million, but, when account is taken of the fall in the value of money, the 1971 figure represents a reduction of about 4 per cent. It is clear that in 1972 the tourist industry will continue to be affected even more seriously by the Northern Ireland situation.

The lack of growth in tourism revenue in the past few years has been felt by all tourism interests and particularly by hoteliers. Generally speaking, the absence of traffic growth meant that their revenue projectives were not achieved and some of them have found themselves in tight financial situations. I have been conscious of the implications of this situation and I have ensured that a high level of funds was made available through Bord Fáilte to enable them to undertake the necessary marketing activities so as to secure the best possible flow of tourist traffic.

Initially, the Government provided £6.23 million for Bord Fáilte's activities in the current year. This was increased by £1.25 million in October last in recognition of the industry's needs. The additional sum of £350,000 which I now propose to provide will bring the total to £7.83 million. One million pounds of the amount provided in October last was used to meet arrears of capital grants due to hoteliers. As a result, there are now no arrears of grant payments and grants on foot of commitments entered into by Bord Fáilte are being paid as they fall due. The additional £350,000 will clear the backlog in the case of interest grants.

The £7.83 million provided for tourism in the current year compares very favourably with £5.55 million last year, £4.35 million in 1968-69 and £0.58 million in 1960-61. This is a very high level of support for the tourist industry and was achieved because my colleagues in the Government have accepted my view about the importance of the tourist industry.

As the additional £350,000 will go to meet interest payments due by hoteliers to the banks, it is not inappropriate that I should mention the contribution which banks and other lending institutions have made to the development of the tourist industry. Through their involvement it has been possible for developers to build up and improve our existing stock of good quality accommodation. This investment and the services which the banks continue to provide for holiday accommodation and tourism generally, are a sign of confidence in the soundness and long-term good prospects of the industry.

The troubles in the North have, of course, affected the direction of promotional efforts in the current year. As soon as marketing intelligence showed a reluctance on the part of British tourists to come to Ireland for holidays, Bord Fáilte stepped up considerably their promotional activities among Irish people in Britain and have been concentrating to a much greater extent on expanding the volume of ethnic traffic there. Among the special measures taken by the board were arrangements for some 250 special promotions for the January/March, 1972, period with the participation of 100 trade representatives from Ireland. In addition, teams of staff from the board's head office and the eight regional tourism organisations are undertaking promotional tours of Britain for the specific purpose of attracting groups and individuals to spend their holidays in Ireland this year. The ethnic orientated campaign is now well under way and will run for a period of at least four months.

Bord Fáilte have also increased their activities in relation to ethnic traffic in North America. While the North American market is difficult to assess at present, the general indications are that traffic from North America during 1972 will not differ significantly from last year. Bord Fáilte have also extended and intensified their marketing and promotional activities in Europe. In addition to increasing the level of activity in France and Germany, where they have been operating for a number of years, they are extending their activities into a number of other countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. The level of bookings from Europe is reported to be higher than last year and Bord Fáilte forecast a 5 per cent increase in overall traffic from that area this year.

Bord Fáilte in association with the regional tourism organisations and the other tourism interests have also mounted a major home holidays campaign. The board have told me that the campaign has so far drawn a significant number of inquiries to the regional tourism offices for information on Irish holiday programmes. The indications are that greater numbers of Irish people are likely to take their main holidays in Ireland this year. Annual expenditure by Irish people making visits abroad amounts to more than £40 million a year. Ordinarily, this level of expenditure is understandable as tourist traffic is two way and the Irish, in common with other peoples, wish to use their improved earnings to enlarge their experience. We are, however, in an exceptional situation this year which has brought good patriotic reasons for Irish people to spend their holidays in Ireland in 1972. There is a very wide range of attractive holidays on offer, both for main holidays and for short off-season breaks. These represent very good value and cover such a variety as to cater for everybody's requirements.

Irish holidays by Irish people will guarantee employment in hotels and other sectors, will help to maintain our favourable balance of payments position on tourism account and will contribute to the maintenance of tourist plant so that the necessary volume of accommodation and facilities will be there to meet the growth which I know will come as soon as current difficulties have passed. I am very optimistic about the home holidays campaign as I believe that Irish people will show their patriotism in a very positive way this year by holidaying in Ireland. I am sure that Deputies on all sides of the House are using their influence to support this important campaign.

I should like to be in a position to forecast good returns for the 1972 tourist season. This, however, would not be realistic. We are facing a difficult year and we cannot expect a recovery of previous growth patterns until significant progress is evident in the Northern Ireland situation. In the meantime the programme of marketing which I have referred to is being supported and will continue to be supported by the highest ever level of Exchequer funds for tourism. In recognition of the problems of the hotel industry I have already taken steps to meet all capital grant payments due to hoteliers and I am now proposing to provide funds to clear all interest grants. The adoption of this Supplementary Estimate will therefore mean that all State commitments to the hotel industry will have been discharged.

I am availing of this opportunity to provide £164,000 for increases in remuneration in my Department. This arises from the 13th round increase and other increases granted to the General Civil Service and other grades.

Savings in the Vote amounting to £300,000 have been taken into consideration, thus reducing the amount required in this Supplementary Estimate to £214,000.

I recommend this Supplementary Estimate to the House.

Mr. O'Donnell

This Supplementary Estimate provides us with an opportunity, although a rather limited one, to have a look at the present state of the Irish tourist industry. I am glad that the Minister availed himself of this opportunity to give us a general review of the situation at the moment. The money provided in this Supplementary Estimate is welcome because it means that all State commitments to the hotel industry have now been discharged. The situation which obtained over the past couple of years, in which hoteliers who had built hotels and had been approved for grants had to wait for a long period of time for the payment of those grants, should not have arisen. If a State body gives an undertaking to a private individual who is engaging in an activity which qualifies for a grant, once the grant has been approved, the State body is under an obligation to honour that commitment and pay the grant.

The situation in the hotel industry in this respect has been most unsatisfactory and it was aggravated by reason of the fact that the tourist industry was running into difficulties. Business was not good and many hoteliers to whom money was owed by Bord Fáilte or the State not merely had to do without the money but also had to fight against a downward trend in bookings. Statements have been made to the effect, and newspaper reports have shown, that the plight of many of these hoteliers is extremely serious. Various rumours have been circulating about the number of hotels which are for sale at present. I would ask the Minister to ensure that in future grants which are approved are paid within a reasonable time. If the State body which approved the grants are short of money, there is an obligation on the Minister and the Government to provide the money. I would be very sorry to see a recurrence of the situation where people would be left indefinitely without grants being paid.

Now that the State has honoured all commitments to the hotel industry, the time is opportune for us to take a critical look at the whole question of accommodation in relation to the tourist industry. Bord Fáilte engaged in a study of the accommodation needs of the Irish hotel industry up to 1980 a considerable time ago but to my knowledge no report of this study has been issued. I sincerely hope the report will not be kept within the confines of Baggot Street Bridge in company with the results of other examinations in recent times into other aspects of the tourist industry. The public are entitled to know what the situation is.

At any rate, I am convinced we have adequate hotel accommodation in Ireland not merely for present day needs but to meet the accommodation needs of the next six or seven years. We might, therefore, explore the possibilities of developing accommodation other than that in hotels. There has been a colossal growth in the demand for guesthouse and farmhouse accommodation, for caravanning, for camping accommodation and for youth hostels. They all come into the category of accommodation. It was significant that in 1971, when certain sectors of the tourist industry experienced reductions in bookings, the number of young people coming here to avail of hostelling accommodation showed a substantial increase. This is important in a number of ways which I do not need to spell out, even if time was available to me.

We have equipped the country adequately with hotel accommodation. Our big problem now is to fill that accommodation and to increase the hotel bed occupancy rates. Outside of that we must examine the accommodation needs of visitors who do not wish to stay in hotels. With this in mind I recommend to the Minister the possibility of developing adequate, properly serviced camping and caravan sites and youth hostels. I do not wish to be parochial but by way of illustration I will refer to the fact that in Limerick we have been looking for a Government grant for quite some time to provide a modern youth hostel there. Now that all State commitments to the hotel industry have been met and that there probably will not be further commitments in that respect in the coming year, a State subvention should be channelled into the provision of properly serviced youth hostels and camping and caravan sites. I have information from Europe that hostelling and camping holidays are becoming extremely popular, particularly among young people, and I would hope that one of the benefits to flow to us from EEC accession would be a growth in the traffic rate to Ireland of more young people from the Continent.

The Minister referred briefly to the role of the banks and the other financial institutions in the development of the Irish tourist industry. I endorse what he said in that respect but I wish to add what I said on previous occasions that I am convinced the present financial facilities available to the Irish tourist industry are not nearly adequate. Just as the agricultural industry has the ACC and the manufacturing industry has the ICC, I think there is a great need for the establishment of a financial institution to service the needs of the Irish tourist industry. The establishment of such an institution has been called for by many people engaged in the industry and I ask the Minister to examine the possibility of setting up such a body. If we regard tourism as a major national industry, there is a cast iron case for the establishment of a financial institution to service that industry.

While the hotel industry has grown at an impressive rate during the past decade, I think we have overlooked that the needs of tourists, of visitors to this country, are not being catered for fully by merely erecting hotels and providing bedrooms and other facilities. There is need to examine what we might do to provide more amenities, better entertainment facilities. It has been a constant complaint from many visitors to this country that after dinner or the evening meal there has been very little by way of entertainment, and although certain experiments have been carried out in certain areas to devise imaginative entertainment programmes such as Irish cabaret, there is still great scope for the use of more imagination in the provision of entertainment facilities of a cultural nature and otherwise, thus ensuring that visitors to this country will enjoy their stay better. In a country such as ours where we cannot guarantee sunshine, where there might be heavy rainfall when tourists would be confined indoors or in cars or touring coaches, there is great need for more amenities in our seaside and other hotel resorts.

The Minister referred to the current difficulties in the tourist industry and he said:

The troubles in the North have, of course, affected the direction of promotional efforts in the current year.

Let us be honest about this. We have spent the last two years attributing all the problems of the Irish tourist industry exclusively to the troubles in the North. This is grossly dishonest, particularly in relation to the British market. Let us face facts. The decline in the British tourist market set in as long ago as 1966. I am very conscious of the impact of the unfortunate situation in the North on our tourist promotion in Britain. I am also very conscious of the impact of recent events but we should not kid ourselves into the belief that when peace is restored, as we hope it will be very shortly, all our troubles in the British market will be solved overnight. We have been running into difficulties in Britain for the past five years. This has been caused by increasing prices here, the growth of the very low priced highly attractive continental package tours from Britain. We were hit when the restriction on overseas spending allowances, which was limited to £50 for a very long time, was increased to £150 two years ago. Growing competition from European countries has also affected us. We have taken very little effective action to try to counteract this.

Our air fares, shipping charges and transport charges generally between Britain and this country have continued to increase. We have no answer to the low-priced charter holidays from Britain to continental destinations. A growing number of people in Britain, including many Irish people, have been opting for the sunshine which these low-priced holidays offer. We should not continue to hide under the umbrella of the unfortunate troubles in the North of Ireland. The Minister said that due to the difficulties which are being encountered, particularly in the British market, Bord Fáilte have turned their attention to the ethnic market, that is, trying to persuade the Irish people in Britain to come home for their holidays.

I welcome the belated conversion of Bord Fáilte, Aer Lingus and the shipping companies to a recognition of the fact that in Great Britain there are 4 million people of Irish parentage and that these constitute a very important market for Irish tourism, which has been grossly neglected over the years. I am very pleased to say that the response, taking everything into account, has been very good. I should like to commend Ireland West on the manner in which they have approached this ethnic market campaign in Britain. They produced a brochure and have mounted a very realistic promotional campaign among the west of Ireland organisations in Great Britain. The Minister said that 250 special promotions have been mounted and that 100 trade representatives from Ireland are participating in the campaign in Britain. In the Ireland West brochure a very wide range of most attractive holidays is being offered.

A good deal of thought and care has gone into the preparation of this brochure. The special holiday needs of Irish people in Britain have been taken into account up to a certain point. Despite all the Minister says about the efforts being made to encourage Irish people to come home on holidays, we are still faced with the fact that neither Bord Fáilte, the air lines, the shipping companies nor anybody else has yet designed a package holiday to cater for the ordinary Irish worker in Britain who is coming home to stay with his parents or relatives. These people form the bulk of the ethnic market in Britain. Recently I asked the Minister what was the lowest air fare available to an Irish person working in Britain in the months of July and August, 1972. I was told that the lowest return fare between London and Shannon was £29.50. An ordinary constituent of mine with a wife and a couple of children who wants to come home to stay with relatives will have to pay up to £100 for the air fares alone. On top of this, surface transport to London airport and to Shannon airport must be paid.

I thought now that we realise that the only hope of maintaining a reasonable flow of traffic from Britain this year is by aiming at the Irish people in Britain something would be done about air fares. The Minister has continuously said that the IATA regulations do not permit Aer Lingus to give special rates for air travel alone. The cost must include hotel accommodation in the package holiday. If an Irish person in Great Britain wants to avail of a package holiday to Ireland he must pay for accommodation, even though he is not using it. I am convinced that it is possible to get over this. As I pointed out some time ago, the Spanish Government have a scheme whereby Spanish exiles returning home for their annual holidays get a 40 per cent concession from Iberian Air Lines with the permission of IATA. I have also found out that BEA and BOAC, with the permission of IATA, have an arrangement with the British merchant navy whereby crews changing ships in foreign ports can be flown back home and a new group flown out at a 40 per cent concession in the air fares.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy appreciates that the debate on this Estimate is to conclude at 12 o'clock.

Mr. O'Donnell

I appreciate that. I do not blame Irish people for being cynical at the present time. I fully support the ethnic campaign. I am going over to Britain on Monday at the request of various Irish associations from the Limerick region. I hope the Minister will do something about the air charges between Great Britain and Ireland. The Minister forecasts a 5 per cent increase in tourist traffic from Europe. Some newspaper on Sunday questioned this but my information also is that there is a prospect of a 5 per cent increase in tourist traffic from Europe. The only criticism I have is that in relation to the problem of mounting an adequate promotional campaign on the Continent the funds might be better distributed. I am very enthusiastic about the prospects for Irish tourism from the Continent of Europe. With the Minister, I hope that we break even on the American market or at least maintain the traffic at the same level as last year. According to reports coming from North America the bookings are at the same level as last year.

Two serious blunders were made recently in Britain. One was the decision of CIE to pull out entirely from the British market. This was a retrograde step. It has done untold damage to the promotion of Irish tourism in Britain and has had the effect of encouraging numerous other travel agents not to bother any more with Ireland. Their attitude was: "Why should we continue to sell Ireland when the Irish transport company, CIE, are not continuing to sell Ireland?" This has undermined the work of the few private operators who were trying to sell Ireland. The second blunder was committed by the expenditure of £70,000 on advertising and publicity in certain British newspapers in the early part of this year. Bord Fáilte spent £70,000. I have been critical of the manner in which the advertising schedule of Bord Fáilte has been drawn up. I commented on the fact that the bulk of the money was being spent on advertising in the upper-class British newspapers. Despite the fact that the writing was on the wall in that particular market early this year, Bord Fáilte still spent £70,000 in the colour supplements of papers like The Sunday Telegraph, The Times and The Observer. It is known that the same readers of these papers have villas in the south of France and go to America or the Bahamas for holidays. Particularly in the light of the rather hostile attitude of most of these papers to Ireland it was outrageous to spend £70,000 on such advertising. Results proved that such expenditure was totally wasted. The number of inquiries were minimal and did not justify the expenditure.

When peace is restored, I hope that we will be able to induce British tourists to come to Ireland again. It is vitally important to reassure English people. We have some bookings from British tourists this year particularly for special interest holidays with golfing and angling. Every opportunity should be availed of to assure these people that they are welcome to Ireland and that there is no danger in coming to Ireland. We sincerely hope that they will come and not cancel their bookings.

Dr. O'Donovan

There are three Supplementary Estimates, for £16 million, coming up for discussion in the House. One is for £3.5 million for the Department of Defence, another is for £7.5 million for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the third is for £5 million for the Department of Industry and Commerce. We should not spend too long discussing the comparatively modest sum in this Supplementary Estimate. If we do, these other Supplementary Estimates will be passed as if through some kind of machine. This has often happened. I will not talk too long on this Supplementary Estimate. There was much discussion on the previous Supplementary Estimate for this Department which was for a relatively large sum of money.

I still think the hotels are charging too much, although, indeed, during the recent winter season they showed some initiative in cutting prices for weekends. The development of guesthouses is certainly to be praised. During the recent labour conference in Wexford there was no hotel accommodation available and I stayed in a guesthouse a short distance south of the town. It was as good as the best hotel I have been in over the last ten years. I had a room with bath and the charge was extremely modest. I agree with Deputy O'Donnell when he says that there is now adequate hotel accommodation in this country. At this stage Aer Lingus have built a new hotel out at the airport—I call it "megalopolis", coming from megalomania. The Minister knows what I mean. I do not agree with Deputy O'Donnell when he says that another financial institution is required. The existing financial institutions are adequate for every purpose for which money might be required.

I do not agree with the purpose for which this Supplementary Estimate is being taken. It is for interest grants on loans raised by developers for accommodation and other tourist projects. I do not agree with interest grants for private enterprises. If they cannot meet the interest on their loans Fóir Teoranta exist to look after them. There should not be interest grants on loans to private individuals. The Minister will get this Supplementary Estimate without any trouble. I said I would speak for only a few moments. The Estimate for the Department of Defence has to be discussed at length. I see no point in delaying time on this small sum of money.

Mr. B. Lenihan

The importance of this Supplementary Estimate of £350,000 is that it finally gets rid of the backlog of grant commitments that have been built up over a number of years when the accommodation drive was undertaken by Bord Fáilte in the late sixties. That accommodation drive was so successful that the construction works outran the financial resources to fund the particular works undertaken. We have finally reached a stage where arrears, through this Supplementary Estimate and the earlier Supplementary Estimate in the autumn for £1 million devoted to accommodation, have been cleared and the accommodation situation has been stabilised. I agree with Deputy O'Donnell and Deputy O'Donovan that we should now realise that we have sufficient hotel accommodation for the immediate future and the importance of meeting commitments to hoteliers is that they are relieved of financial pressures and will be able to participate in promotion work which is all-important to the hotel industry at present. A very detailed investigation is being conducted at the moment by Bord Fáilte into the whole question of the accommodation requirements of the tourist industry up to 1980. I can assure the House that when this report is available in a few months time it will be made public and will be the basis of legislative proposals which I will bring before the House.

Mr. O'Donnell

I assume that this survey will include such things as I have mentioned, for example, caravans and so on? It is not just a hotel survey?

Mr. B. Lenihan

The Deputy has anticipated me. I was just coming to that. It is a comprehensive investigation to cover the whole field of future needs in the accommodation area including hotels, guesthouses, farmhouses, caravan and camping facilities and youth hostels and the necessary financial incentives needed to provide the full range of this type of accommodation. No question about it, there has been a switch in recent years in the type of holiday undertaken by the people, particularly young people who tend to go in for what may be called activity holidays, mobile holidays, hiking or travelling in a car or engaging in some form of sport or activity, the interest type holiday away from the routine hotel holiday which was the traditional holiday of previous generations. Consequently, there is a switch in the type of accommodation they require. It is in the area of camping and caravanning, the farmhouse holidays that I see Bord Fáilte and the State concentrating in future years in providing incentives to build up that type of accommodation rather than orthodox hotel accommodation of which we have now a range sufficient for our requirements in the foreseeable future. I want to emphasise that; I think it is important at the present time. I think that is the sort of picture that will emerge from this investigation. In my view it will require legislation to provide for a whole range of different incentives and assistance for this type of accommodation apart from traditional hotel accommodation.

Two points were made by Deputy O'Donnell concerning the CIE decision in regard to the tours operation in Glasgow and Manchester. I must emphasise that it is only from their tours operation that CIE withdrew in these cities. Their operation in tourism promotion outside tours is continuing in Britain. The withdrawal was only in respect of the tours operation. These were non-ethnic operations. The traditional tour travelling market that CIE had in both cases was practically entirely non-ethnic and British-based. They were not getting business as a result of the Northern difficulties.

The other matter to which Deputy O'Donnell referred was advertising undertaken by Bord Fáilte. This is one of the unfortunate commercial situations where advertising space in the papers to which the Deputy referred had to be booked months in advance and there was a contract in respect of it. If Bord Fáilte were free to do so at the stage when the advertising appeared at the height of the Northern troubles they would obviously have cancelled it but the contracts were made long before that and the commitment existed. That is the explanation and I should like to put it on record.

I agree completely with what the Deputy said in regard to the ethnic promotion drive in Britain. This is going very well and many of the regional tourism organisations particularly the Ireland West Tourism Organisation——

Mr. O'Donnell

Has the Minister seen their brochure?

Mr. B. Lenihan

I have. They are doing a very intensive promotional drive among the various Irish associations and groups in Britain. I want to emphasise not just to the Irish in Britain but to everybody in Britain that as far as our Ireland is concerned it is a peaceful country where they are welcome. The type of welcome traditionally given to visitors in this part of Ireland will continue to be given to them one hundredfold. It has always been our tradition to welcome visitors: no animosity whatever has been shown to visitors from Britain and they are more than ever welcome in the present year. The ties that have always bound these two islands continue to be strong and I want to emphasise that above all else in the current year no heed should be paid to the odd action by the odd malcontent which does not represent the view of the overwhelming majority of our people and which is one of generosity towards visitors, whether they are the Irish in Britain or the British in Britain. Visitors from that island who always come to Ireland and have been given a full welcome will find that welcome still stands. This year I would make an appeal to British people and say to them that this is the year to come. It can be shown that the matters that bind us are far stronger than the matters that divide us.

Mr. O'Donnell

I am very glad the Minister has said that. I welcome it and I sincerely hope that it will get the publicity it deserves in the British press.

Mr. B. Lenihan

I thank the Deputy. Other matters referred to included the home holidays campaign. This is going very well and a number of very attractive packages for those spending holidays at home have been devised by CIE and Bord Fáilte in co-operation with numerous private hotel groups and there is tremendous co-operation by the private sector with the public sector in this matter. Although I said in my opening remarks that the appeal was directed towards the patriotic instincts of our people it is not depending on that alone. These packages, on examination, give very good value. I want to emphasise that aspect of it. We are not just asking people to spend holidays at home for patriotic reasons alone: the value is very good. The range of packages and the range of accommodation offered gives variety that covers every type of accommodation, price range, activity and interest.

Deputy O'Donnell referred to the continental market. There is no element of prejudice against this country in this market and we find tremendous success with our promotion efforts so far. When I suggest a 5 per cent increase I mention that figure conservatively; it might be more on present indications. The type of holiday offered in Ireland is one that suits those requiring the activity holiday to which I have referred and which is particularly popular on the Continent. In many continental countries they are not interested in the sunshine package holiday that has proved so attractive in Northern Europe and in these islands. The French, Germans, Italians and Spaniards are tired of sunshine and want our type of climate which is as attractive to them as the sunshine appears to be to people from these islands. It is in this area and with people interested in activity holidays in a climate different from their own that I feel there is great scope for the future. The indications are excellent and our entry into Europe should facilitate and expand this market.

Deputy O'Donnell mentioned the need to develop amenities, entertainments and facilities outside the accommodation area. As the House is aware, in the overall increase in capital funds made available by the Minister for Finance some two months ago, £500,000 was allocated for development of the type of amenities and facilities mentioned by the Deputy which I think are ancillary to the actual accommodation. We should utilise this period when we have to fill our hotel accommodation to provide all the other requirements of the tourism industry other than hotel accommodation. This £500,000 will be devoted to the provision of caravan sites and car parks and to the opening up of access roads and fishing stands as well as the numerous facilities and amenities that are essential to the building up of a comprehensive tourism plant in this country in the future. Now that we have fulfilled our hotel accommodation requirements we will be taking a broad look in the immediate future at the provision here of a range of facilities and amenities and accommodation other than the traditional type. This is the area for investment.

Vote put and agreed to.