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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 1 Dec 1976

Vol. 294 No. 8

Private Members' Business. - Tourist Industry: Motion (Resumed).

The following motion was moved by Deputy Leonard on Tuesday, 30th November, 1976:
That Dáil Éireann is of the opinion that the tourist industry is failing to make an adequate contribution to the national economy, due to the failure of the Government with regard to prices, its introduction of penal taxation and its failure to give guidance and adequate support to the industry.
Debate resumed on the following amendment:
To delete all words after "tourist industry" and substite the following:
"has shown a recovery since 1973, having previously been in decline since 1969, and commends the contribution which the Government, in accordance with its stated aim on taking office, has made towards that recovery".
—(Minister for Transport and Power.)

Before reporting progress yesterday I was endeavouring to highlight the dangers of pollution. In this regard I was glad to note that the Minister shared my anxiety. We all know the damage that pollution can cause to our lovely lakes and streams and what this damage means not only in terms of the environment but in terms of loss to our tourist industry. I have been pointing to ways that I considered would be suitable in making our country more attractive from the point of view of tourism.

I should like to mention a few other points in the short time at my disposal. It is very important that our towns and villages should be kept as tidy as possible. In almost every town and village there are derelict sites which are eyesores and urgently need attention. I should like Bord Fáilte to play a more active part in regard to those eyesores. Perhaps they could make more money available to have those sites cleared. We also see indiscriminate dumping of refuse on many roads. Again, I should like to have more control. There is nothing as bad when driving along a road as seeing dumps on both sides, cardboard boxes, plastic bags, bottles and so on. This should be stopped and unless this kind of dumping is controlled the countryside will be spoiled. A public relations exercise is needed in this respect and school children could perhaps be made aware of their responsibility and, perhaps, could impress on their parents the importance of avoiding dumping of this kind which is very undesirable.

I should also like more control over caravan sites. In recent years caravan holidays are playing a more important role in our tourist industry. I think Bord Fáilte should have control over those sites, even those not registered under Bord Fáilte. I have had complaints from people who booked caravans for holidays and who were very disappointed with what they were offered when they went to the seaside to take over their caravans. The beds were not clean and the utensils were not satisfactory. Generally speaking, the whole situation was wrong. Either Bord Fáilte or the sanitary authorities should have power to inspect caravans and see that everything is right. Usually, people take holidays only once a year and if they are not satisfied the whole holiday is spoiled for them for that year.

In contributing yesterday to the debate I tried to point out that our tourist prices were not competitive. I would not agree with the Minister for Transport and Power when he said yesterday that hotels, food, transport and drink prices here were ridiculously cheap. Few would agree with him. In this evening's newspaper some of those involved in tourism in this country have also rejected the Minister's idea that prices are cheaper here and that hotel prices are ridiculously low. Our distinctive competitive advantage lies in the personal and cultural spheres and in the physical environment. We should always strive to preserve those natural qualities.

In any economic planning for the future tourism must get very high priority because of its great potential. This industry generates economic activity sufficient to support the employment of 100,000 people. Without its foreign exchange earnings the projected balance of payments deficit for 1976 would be doubled. Its import content is exceptionally small compared with manufacturing industry. More important as far as I am concerned, its impact is strongly felt in the underdeveloped regions. The industry deserves full Government support but I fear it is not getting that kind of commitment from the Government at present. We have only to examine the penal taxes imposed by the present Administration. This can be blamed for the high prices now prevailing. When we see the price of petrol, of drink, of food and of transport we realise immediately that many of those increases were imposed by the Government. Surely, then, they are failing to give wholehearted support to tourism. There is merit in the suggestion I made yesterday that tourists should be given some concession as regards petrol. They should be allowed to purchase it at the same price, perhaps, as that obtaining in Northern Ireland or Britain. Unfortunately, that is not the case at present; petrol here is much dearer than in either Northern Ireland or Britain.

There are many other areas that could be helped and they in turn would help tourism. I should like to see more money put into the farm accommodation scheme, a very worthy project. The rent-a-cottage scheme is another area. It has been very successful in Tullycross and also in Ballycastle, County Mayo. I should like more money to be put into this kind of project because it brings tourists to rural areas that do not enjoy the same natural amenities, perhaps, that exist in Salthill and other places.

I am pleased to support the Minister's amendment. In my view our tourist industry is reasonably healthy considering the dark and dangerous forces that have been working against it for some time. The industry experienced a slump in recent years but that was not confined to Ireland. There was worldwide depression following the oil crisis in 1973. The recently published OECD report for 1975 shows that after a year of decline in 1974 international tourism staged a recovery in 1975. In the OECD area as a whole arrivals of foreigners into these countries which had fallen by 6 per cent in 1974, rose by 5 per cent in 1975. This is a healthy sign in our recently published report and it shows an upward trend in world tourism which, after all, is the largest single item in world trade.

In this country we did not have to wait for the oil crisis for the fall-off in revenue from the tourist industry. In 1969-70 the troubles erupted in the North of Ireland and everyone of every political persuasion realised at once that the sector of our economy which would suffer most would be the tourist trade. This was proved at the time and it has been the case ever since. A few incidents stand out which dealt body blows, as it were, to the tourist trade. We had the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin where one can of petrol did more damage to our tourist trade than all the economic difficulties we had ever dreamed of. 1972 was the darkest year for our tourism. We cannot help but attribute to the burning of a foreign embassy in our midst this sharp slump in our tourist trade. A year later we had the murder of Senator Billy Fox in Monaghan. We had bombs going off and people being killed in Monaghan and Dublin. This year we had the worst thing of all that could happen in a country, the savage assassination of the British Ambassador and his secretary.

To say that violence in this country does not account for the slump in our tourist trade is contemptible. Day after day and night after night the television screens in Britain carry this catalogue of crime and violence from Ireland. Television, as we all know, has an impact far beyond anything we ever dreamed of. The bombs going off, the people being killed, the destruction of property, the disturbance in the streets, all of these things are vividly brought into the homes of the entire British population. As a result of this there has been a marked decline in the number of visitors coming into this country from Britain. The ordinary man in England when he sees the disturbance and violence that is taking place in the north-eastern part of this country will not be convinced otherwise than that this affects every part of this island. As a result of the violence people in England are very reluctant to come over here and spend their holidays amongst us.

Another element in the reluctance of English people to come to Ireland is the severe economic difficulties at present besetting that country. The fall in the value of the £ makes English people tighten their belts, as it were. Tourism is a sustained and a discretionary income. People can have a little extra money put aside and they can treat themselves to a trip abroad in the summer time. When the recession came in England and harsh economic measures had to be taken there by the Government, this resulted in fewer people in England going abroad; they spent their holidays at home. Therefore, when there is an economic recession in England the tourist industry in this country is bound to suffer as a result. The result has been very marked indeed. The fall in the number of people coming to this country from England in the past five years has been something like 23 per cent but this 23 per cent in numbers represents something like 40 per cent in revenue, and this is certainly to be viewed with concern.

It would be a very neat question indeed to ask how much money Bord Fáilte would require to spend on publicity to off-set the damaging coverage which the violence in Northern Ireland brings on this country. That would be an insurmountable task, but I submit that the Government and Bord Fáilte are doing the best job possible with the resources available in trying to sell this country abroad and to cast aside the violent image which has been painted of us in the television screens throughout Britain and the rest of the world. Ever since Bord Fáilte started promoting tourism and compiling statistics one fact that has emerged is that Britain is our greatest customer. In any given year we have more visitors from Britain than from any other country, but here again we can ask ourselves how many of the people driving around the country in motorcars with GB plates on them are genuine English tourists. Take, for example, a man who has spent a considerable part of his working life in England and who comes on holiday here and spends some time in his old home. Do we call him a tourist? Do we call him an English tourist? I think he would resent that term. The majority of people visiting here from England are Irish-born coming to visit their friends and relatives.

It should be borne in mind that during the past five years there has been immigration into this country. A figure of 12,000 has been put on this. Here again the vast majority of these would be people who emigrated in their youth, spent a great part of their working life in England or elsewhere, have gathered up some money and have decided to come home and set up house and buy a farm or a business and live on the land they were born and raised in. This figure of 12,000 should be taken into account when we talk about decline in the British market for Irish tourism.

The North American and continental markets paint a totally different picture. In 1975 there was a 5 per cent increase in our visitors from America and there was something like an 11 per cent increase in those coming from the Continent. Although the English visitor may be thin on the ground, Bord Fáilte and the tourist industry have done a very good job selling Ireland in America and on the Continent and attracting people here.

A great deal of hard work and dedication to the selling of Ireland abroad has still to be done. Do the Opposition think that if the Government were to double the allocation to Bord Fáilte this would result in a doubling of the number of tourists? I do not think that for a minute. Our tourist industry mushroomed in the sixties. There was a general affluence all over Europe and America. With the technological advance in communications Ireland began to open her doors and make preparations for and invite visitors from abroad. When there was no talk of violence at home and when there was no oil crisis abroad, it was a very simple task for Bord Fáilte to sell the country and attract tourists. They earned the reputation in the late sixties of being the glamour boy in the semi-State line-up. As I said, it was a very pleasant task that was marked with success.

When the troubles erupted in the North the picture changed. Ever since Bord Fáilte have had to look at themselves, examine where they were going and make plans for the future. They have addressed themselves to one area of activity which is proving to be very profitable. It has been established that in the early part of 1975 there was a dramatic rise in the tourist trade. This accelerated growth was attributed to a large extent to Ireland's presidency of the EEC. At that time there was an influx of foreign politicians, diplomats, journalists and staff from these countries. As a direct result our tourist revenue for that period increased.

This is a sharp pointer to an area of activity that Bord Fáilte have been pursuing intensively of late and which will prove to be of great benefit to the country in the end. I am speaking now of catering for international conventions. The number of visitors to conventions here has doubled. Between 1972 and 1975 there were about 40,000. The Convention Bureau of Ireland, which is representative of a broad spectrum of the tourist industry and which operates under the auspices of Bord Fáilte, are undertaking a new campaign to increase the number of people attending conventions to something like 63,000 by 1980. They have set themselves a target of 43,000 for next year and they are very confident that this will be achieved.

International conventions are emerging as a very sure and sound investment by Bord Fáilte. Almost all this activity takes place in the winter. As a result employment is maintained in this country which usually has a seasonal fall-off. It has also been shown that people attending the international conventions spend three or four times as much as the casual visitor. Bord Fáilte and the Convention Bureau of Ireland are to be heartily congratulated on their success in this field. The benefits that accrue from the holding of an international convention bring us valuable publicity, our visitors are shown what the country is like, they sample our hospitality and then go back to their families and friends and speak highly of this country. This is the best type of publicity Bord Fáilte could get. It is better than all the glossy brochures ever published.

Due to the slump Bord Fáilte have taken a very critical look at themselves and produced a national development plan for 1976-80. This plan divides the country into regions which are then divided into zones. It gives detailed analysis of accommodation, visitor origin, visitor spending and general interests in each area. The organisation for the region covering Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath is known as the Lakeland Tourism Organisation. This body, in conjunction with Bord Fáilte, have set out very ambitious plans for their area. They have promoted with local interests to get this region into the tourist industry in the coming years.

I would now like to pay tribute to some of the local authorities in that area who have contributed greatly to the tourist prospects for the area. One local authority which has achieved great things in this field is the Monaghan County Council who set up, financed and got under way a museum which is proving to be a great attraction and has been praised by people from all walks of life. The council got loans from the National Gallery and the Ulster Museum and have put Monaghan on the cultural map. I would also like to pay a tribute to the Cavanagh Society in County Monaghan who are setting up a museum to commemorate the poet's life. I am glad to see that Bord Fáilte are not only approving and praising this project but they will back up their words by giving generous financial assistance. This is a very healthy sign for an area which has not fared well in the tourist trade in recent times.

In the late 'sixties there were a very large number of fishermen visiting Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim and Sligo for coarse fishing in the lakes and rivers nearby. Since the troubles this has come to an abrupt end. I was very glad to read recently in the report by the Garda Commissioner that in this area, notably Cavan, Monaghan, Sligo and Leitrim, the level of crime is the lowest in the country. That is a healthy sign for tourist prospects for the region. It should be noted that visitors from abroad and our own nationals have nothing whatever to fear coming up into the Border areas. In the debate so far Opposition Deputies have called for more money for Bord Fáilte and more money to be spent in all areas of activity designed to promote tourism. If there were no financial constraints on the Exchequer, or if we were living in times of great economic progress, money could be lashed out in all directions. Unfortunately, we are not living in such times and there are very severe constraints on the Exchequer. Instead of being able to spend money lavishly we have to curtail and prune expenditure. There was no suggestion at all about Bord Fáilte spending the moneys allocated to it more wisely and no suggestion as to what steps it could take to promote tourism without the necessity of spending exorbitant sums. In all the provincial towns Bord Fáilte have leased business premises. It should be possible to function efficiently by having a counter or an office in part of the local post office. Leasing premises is a very expensive way of promoting tourism. Indeed, in some provincial towns the people living in the towns do not know where the tourist offices are located.

There was a suggestion about setting up a national selling agency. There is already a multiplicity of organisations. There are too many organisations and, instead of calling for more, we should be calling for fewer organisations. There would be no necessity for organisations if there was real co-operation and co-ordination by Departments and semi-State bodies and local authorities in promoting tourism.

I believe the standards in our hotels leave a great deal to be desired and I hope Bord Fáilte will use all their powers to raise these standards and give a better quality deal to visitors.

I am very happy to support the Minister's amendment.

Mr. Kitt

I support Deputy Leonard's motion. It is fairly obvious that the tourist industry is failing to make an adequate contribution to our economy. That is proved in the numbers of visitors in the last year. From Britain there was a drop of almost 50 per cent. There was a very small increase in the numbers from North America and the Continent but, overall, there was no increase and the Minister himself said last night that the position was unsatisfactory. It is especially unsatisfactory when one remembers that this should be an expanding industry. Tourism is very big business today. It is everybody's business because it affects all of us. Hundreds of millions are spent annually building hotels and restaurants, providing amenities and restoring places of interest, improving roads and providing a range of products and services designed to cater for the visitor.

Tourism today is becoming highly professional. We have people involved in marketing skills and different techniques designed to find out the preferences of tourists. These are always under investigation. Tourism is very competitive and it will be more competitive in the future because there is an ever-widening choice. We have a great deal to offer and with the right encouragement from the Minister, his Department and the various agencies which operate under his Department more tourists would be visiting this country. I was amazed to hear the Minister say he felt too many visitors were coming here. This is very negative and sterile thinking. It is thinking which could further jeopardise the tourist industry. We cannot build a wall around the country and decide who will come and when and what kind of people will not be allowed to visit the country. I hope this is not what the Minister has in mind. We should encourage as many as possible to visit our shores.

There is, first of all, the economic advantage. Tourism is an invisible export which boosts the economy. This is very important today when we have to import such costly items as oil and so on, imports which put a very heavy strain on our balance of payments. We are a trading nation and we have to import many products we cannot produce ourselves and so we have a trade deficit running into several millions. The revenue from tourism would go a long way towards redressing that adverse balance.

We believe the Government could make a greater contribution and we believe they are failing to do that. There is also the tremendous employment tourism generates. We have a very high unemployment figure and this figure could be reduced by encouraging tourism. Tourists consume millions of gallons of milk, millions of eggs and millions of tons of butter, meat and vegetables. We produce all these ourselves. There is a potential for jobs in agriculture as against the hotel and catering industry. If we are to create further employment that employment will be created in industries related to agriculture.

The foreign currency introduced into this country by tourists is spent in many different ways. It filters through the economy because of what we call the multiplier effect. The tourist will pay the hotelier, the latter will pay his staff, they will pay the grocer who, in turn, buys more goods and so it goes on. The multiplier effect is something we should note when talking about the contribution of tourism to the economy. I support the idea put forward by Deputy Leonard of creating a national selling agency. This could co-ordinate all aspects of selling and marketing and could identify the trends and preferences in the industry. In addition, the idea of petrol concessions to tourists should be considered. I understand it operates elsewhere where a voucher system has been introduced.

Above all, the Government must take positive steps to counteract the increased cost of petrol, drink, tobacco and the increased rate of VAT on car hire. Since 1973 there have been 14 increases in the price of a gallon of petrol. At that time a gallon of petrol cost 38p. This item alone has more than doubled in three years. There is a danger that we will price ourselves out of the tourist market, if we have not done so already. The voucher system I have suggested would improve the situation.

The morale of the tourist industry is low as can be seen from the figures I mentioned. There has been a drop of 5.3 per cent in the number of British visitors and there have been only minor increases in the numbers from North America and from the Continent. The declaration by the Government of a state of emergency did considerable harm to the tourist industry. People will not be anxious to visit a country where a supposed national emergency exists. We know of instances where groups or individuals postponed their bookings because of the Government announcement and there was one well-publicised case of a German group who could not get insurance to visit this country.

I admit that the troubles in Northern Ireland are part of the problem, particularly with regard to visitors from Britain, but they are being used as an excuse by the Government for their failure to expand the industry. The world recession was mentioned by some Government speakers but I would point out that other countries, particularly our partners in Europe, are making a serious effort to improve their position with regard to inflation and to secure a decrease in their unemployment figures.

Some speakers have suggested that other countries are so badly off, that their standard of living has decreased so much that they are not inclined to visit any country let alone Ireland but I do not believe that. After listening to Government speakers I wonder what exactly they think of the effect of the world recession on this country. Sometimes they say it is affecting Ireland but on other occasions we hear that we never had it so good, particularly in the west. I mention this because I do not think the argument with regard to the world recession can be sustained.

The Government are taking tourism for granted. Tourism is competitive and is likely to become more competitive but there has not been an adequate injection of funds by the State in order to expand the industry. There is also a lack of action to prevent serious pollution. Last night the Minister said we had something unique, something of high quality to offer tourists and I agree with him but I think the Minister must agree we are in danger of losing some of these qualities.

I was disappointed the Minister did not mention pollution when he spoke last night. It is a very real problem and Bord Fáilte in their tourism plan for 1975 to 1978 gave us a warning. They told us there was evidence to show that an erosion has started which if it is not checked will lead to the collapse of Irish tourism as we know it. I raised this matter before when we were discussing the Bill relating to tourist traffic. Perhaps we could have some central body to deal with this problem. As figures show, some 150,000 anglers visit this country each year but if the pollution of lakes and inland waters is allowed to continue we will lose that sector of the tourist industry. It is essential in future planning and in the development of our tourist industry that we have plans to care for the environment. This matter should be tackled immediately.

We are members of the EEC and we should try to get conventions and conferences held here. In addition we should try to ensure that they are not always held in Dublin. There are fine halls throughout the country and conferences could be held in them. The expenditure by the participants would filter through the economy if this were done. Each area has its own ethnic attraction and tourists admire the variety in each area. It would be a pity if we neglected those places.

The tourist industry will have problems in the future. At the moment we have a litter problem and in some areas there is poor hygiene and cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired. Any effort we put into tourism will be amply repaid because in the future people will have more leisure time, they will possibly have greater standards of living and they will be anxious to get the same quality they have always got in this country.

I wish to support the Minister's amendment. I feel, coming from the Sligo-Leitrim region, that I should say something on this matter. The value of tourism came home very forcibly to me in 1974.

When I moved around my constituency during the late harvest and into October I was amazed at the number of business people who spoke to me about tourism and the benefit it was to the country. If there never was anything about tourism, Irish boys and girls and those who have settled down elsewhere and got married always come home to Ireland. Whether it is in a central place or in the most backward place in Ireland they will always come home to enjoy a pleasant holiday where they were born and reared.

The amount of money left in the various business houses, country pubs and hotels was brought home to me in 1974. People were loud in their praise of the tourist trade. Unfortunately, since then we had some very poor weather conditions and our financial position became bad after we lost severely in our crops. This had a serious effect on the country in general and also on the tourist trade.

That is over now. I believe the Minister will give every possible encouragement to tourists to come to the country. We have some beautiful scenery in the Sligo-Leitrim area around Lough Gill, which is described as the Killarney of the west by people who know the two areas. We also have in Leitrim a well-known lake, Lough Melvin, which attracts fishermen from many parts of the world. Those two centres are known far and wide.

Considerable sums of money have been spent by the Minister but I want to see more money spent if possible. A great deal of work still needs to be done. We want to see greater development in the areas I have mentioned so that people can drive to those places and have picnics. Quite a lot of publicity has been given to Kerry and Donegal. All politicians have visited the various counties and have seen what can be offered. We know there are many places that still need money spent on them as well as Donegal and Kerry.

The Garda Commissioner reported on crime recently and he said that the crime rate in Sligo and Leitrim was the lowest in the country. Many people are scared, because of the Northern crisis, to come to any county adjoining the Border but they need not have any fear about coming to Sligo and Leitrim. The Minister for Justice is doing a very good job and the position all over the country has improved recently. We should be proud of what the Garda Commissioner said about Sligo and Leitrim.

We all know that the tourist trade is an uncertain one. If we have a good year from the weather point of view the people in hotels and others who benefit from tourism have a very good season. Everything depends on the weather. The people going on a tour want good weather. If they are not likely to get favourable weather conditions they will not travel long distances, spend their money on hotels and find themselves confined to those hotels most of the time. The weather plays a very big part in a good season for people running hotels and farmhouse holidays. The years 1975 and 1976 were very good years for tourism. We had very good weather. In other years it might be July or August before the weather takes up and the people start to come.

I am pleased to support the motion in the name of Deputy Leonard which indicates that the tourist industry is not making an adequate contribution to the national economy. I am well aware that the wording of the motion is correct. I did not realise until the Minister spoke last night that it is now his clear intention and the policy of the Government to be selective. He said last night he did not want mass tourism in the country. Previous speakers have castigated Fianna Fáil because we mentioned a national selling agency. I feel this is required to counteract the Minister's repelling agency. Last night he laid great stress on the quality of life in Ireland. He said that quality is everything. He indicated that it was his policy to curtail tourism and the numbers coming here. I can assure him that is not the policy of the party on this side of the House nor is it the policy of those who put down this motion. I should like to ask the Minister—or anyone on the opposite benches—to let us know what is wrong with bringing many people to Ireland. When numbers are our trouble, that is the time to start worrying about them. It will be a long long time until all the beds available are occupied by tourists.

The Minister quoted the bed and breakfast in Brussels which cost £28, and it was only a Continental breakfast at that. He quoted the editor of some snazzy "toney" publication in the United States who marvelled that smoked salmon could still be bought here at seven dollars a lb. The Minister should come down to earth. Who can afford to stay at hotels like that or eat smoked salmon at seven dollars a lb.? Only people who are not paying for it themselves like the Minister and others who have a large expense account. Smoked salmon would not rate as a very high priority to the ordinary people we should try to attract here. The Minister's speech last night proved to me that he is both isolated and insulated from the realities of life.

The Parliamentary Secretary will probably appreciate a little story I heard about two priests who were curates together. They were great friends. They became parish priests and still maintained their friendship. Finally one was exalted and made a bishop. His friend attended on the day he was made bishop and, when he had a quiet word with him, he said: "I suppose from now on you will not eat a bad dinner or hear the truth." What applies to bishops must also apply to Ministers. I was never more conscious of the fact that a member of the Cabinet being so far removed from the realities of Ireland as they exist today than the Minister for Transport and Power was last night here.

We hear of people who fail to rise above their humble upbringing. That is bad enough, but it is sadder still to see people like the Minister who never manage to see below their own exalted positions. That is the case with him. To me the attitude of the Minister here last night was typical of the Fine Gael attitude of selectivity and snobbery, an attitude which has ensured that never were they in a position to get a mandate from the people to rule the country without the help of others. It is the attitude of the select grocer who caters for select clients and discourages the riff-raff and finds that, since he did not move with the times, he is not able to compete and he goes bankrupt in the more modern selling and marketing systems of today.

To my mind tourism should be second only to agriculture as a money spinner. It is particularly attractive because of the part it can play in the balance of payments. Can the Minister who is in charge of tourism afford to be selective and watch our tourist industry decline, when the Minister for Finance goes about Europe with his begging bowl looking for money anywhere he can get it to try to keep our heads above water and borrowing from anyone to help us to pay our way? We are in a bad way in this country and this should percolate to the people in power. They should swallow their pride.

It might be well at this stage to remind them that before the election the 13th point in their plan—the 12th point referred to the status of women —referred to tourism development. The promise was that this Government would carry out a new dynamic development programme for tourism to enable the industry to overcome its present difficulties. As bingo players might say, the 13th point is unlucky for some. It is particularly unlucky for those engaged in the tourist industry. I see no evidence whatsoever of any dynamic development. I do not see it in the sale of the 112 hotels which Deputy Leonard mentioned. The Minister agreed it was a fact but he said most of them were outdated and that they were no loss. What about the quality of life of those who worked in those hotels? If the Barry tourist repellent was not working, and the ordinary people who might not be very hoity-toity happened to come to occupy those hotels and keep those people in their jobs, I wonder would the people who are now on the dole and who worked in those hotels enjoy a better quality of life? It is idle to talk about the quality of life when we have 110,000 people on the dole.

The Minister was quoted in today's paper as saying that hotels, food, transport and drink are ridiculously cheap. People would hardly believe a Minister would stand up in this House and tell us that. It is obvious he has not got to pay for those items himself or he would realise how wrong he is. That is another proof to me of how far removed the members of this Cabinet are from everyday living. They are unaware of the cost of living in Ireland today. Petrol is dearer here than in Northern Ireland, as a direct result of Government policy. It is an example of another type of repellent. When petrol was cheaper here we were told that was a mistake. Now it is much dearer than it is in Northern Ireland and that is no encouragement to people to come here and hire a car or to bring their own cars.

Drink is much dearer here than it is in England or Northern Ireland. If you compare the price of a Harp here with the price of a Harp in England, you will see what I am talking about. I am referring to people who come to my own county. In Prosperous there is a small committee which endeavoured to improve coarse fishing. They succeeded in bringing anglers from England. I refer particularly to a group of disabled anglers who come every year. They stay in small local guesthouses and enjoy the fare offered to them, simple country fare. What interests them are food prices, the price of a drink at night and the cost of travel. As a direct result of Government policy and Government taxation those things have now gone beyond their reach.

The only reason tourism showed any increase in the past few years was due to what the Deputy from Lovely Leitrim called the two lovely hot summers we had. When the long cold and lonely winter arrives, who will claim credit for that? We must accept the blame as well as the credit. I should like to refer to the declaration of emergency. That was a very bad decision from the point of view of tourism. Since 1969 we have been suffering from the troubles in Northern Ireland. We had a "beware of the bull" notice in our fourth green field. The declaration of emergency had the effect of putting up notices in the other three fields to keep people out, to warn people who might be inclined to come in of the danger that they might be attacked if they came to the rest of Ireland. That is the effect it had.

I listened to all the Government speakers and our own speakers. Neither the Minister, Deputy Toal nor Deputy McLaughlin would have sold Ireland to anybody. I never heard more subdued or apologetic speeches. If the tourism industry was depending on them to go out and sell the industry, we would have very few visitors. I thought it was the most lifeless approach in an endeavour to defend their policies that I ever heard. I see no evidence anywhere of the dynamic approach we were promised. I have yet to get confirmation of the new confidence the Minister spoke about last night which he injected into the tourist industry. When you speak to a small hotelier in any town—and our country towns are not enjoying any great prospects—you do not get any evidence of this injection of confidence.

The bed and breakfast people now find that their breakfasts are much dearer since this Government took office, and their beds are unoccupied. This refers to farmhouse holidays and hoteliers in seaside resorts. Most of the blame can be laid at the door of the Government whose policy in regard to prices and taxation has the direct effect of making holidays much dearer here. People are now leaving Ireland and going on holidays abroad. We are told that many people from England did not come to Ireland last year, but remained at home. If the facts were looked into fully, we would find that people who might normally take their holidays in Ireland and see Ireland first as we were asked to do, are now taking a cheaper holiday abroad.

The Minister's attitude and self-confessed policy of being selective, of giving them a better quality of life here than they have abroad indicates to me that his policy is one of discouraging people from coming here. We should help Bord Fáilte because they have spent a lot of money endeavouring to attract people here on holiday; we have wonderful things to attract them. Counties like my own, not aware of their tourist potential, are now awakening to the pastoral scene, to what we have to offer in sport and open spaces to people who would like to come and spend a holiday here. Here I am not referring to the smoked salmon specialists or those who would be prepared to pay £28 for bed and breakfast.

I can judge from the tone of this debate that it was timely and indicates the differences in approach of the present and previous Administrations. I never before heard a Minister admit that he was not intent on bringing tourists to this country until last evening. The Minister would be well advised to change his misinformed approach and go out and sell the country. People who can afford to come here on holiday should be welcomed. We should attract tourists at all costs. I do not think we will disfigure or make shanty towns out of any part of our country by so doing. The Minister should first do that and let the industry tell him when it is time to stop. We have very good seaside resorts so far uncluttered and unpolluted but the Government will have to pay particular attention to the problem of pollution. In this respect we are fortunate in that we can benefit from events or mistakes that have occurred elsewhere, for example, in countries like Holland and so on where there are large numbers of people and a very small quantity of water they must guard very carefully.

For far too long we have decided on a certain holiday period, from June to September, at the end of which people close their hotels. We must endeavour to broaden our outlook here also and attract people during the off-season. I do not know what the Minister might think about our attitude to free salmon fishing. We could attract people here at a certain time of the year for that and other sports—gun clubs and so on— which would cater for people during the off-season. Such attractions exist already in my own constituency in Prosperous. Some of them have received bad publicity. Some continentals are reputed to fire at anything but that is not confined to continentals.

I must now call on the concluding speaker.

I am sorry the Minister is not here for the conclusion of this debate because, even at this late hour, he might have answered some of the questions put to him last evening. In moving an amendment to our motion he expressed the view that he welcomes such motions as they afford an opportunity to discuss the problems besetting the tourist industry. We hoped we would have had an open discussion on it but it appears one never has an open discussion on anything so far as the Coalition are concerned. They said they would provide open government but they are proving to be the direct opposite. I was disappointed the Minister did not make any effort to deal with the points raised, especially the six submissions made to him so often.

The Minister made no attempt whatsoever to explain the drop in tourism from Britain. Neither did he suggest any measures to remedy that situation. He had a responsibility to explain to us the fall-off in tourism from England because, in the tourist debate on 6th and 7th of April last— following the imposition of those taxes by the Government which affected tourism so badly—he told us indications were that there would be an increase in the number of tourists coming here in 1976. I should have liked to have asked him on what he based that assumption because the figures quoted by myself and others last evening illustrated an overall drop of 7,000 people, our tourists in all sectors had dropped from 1,688,000 in 1975 to 1,681,000 in 1976, a drop of 47,000 on our projected 1975 figure and some 80,000 fewer than had been projected by Bord Fáilte in their estimates for the year.

At a tourism seminar a week ago it was stated on good authority that for every 37 British tourists coming here one additional job would be created. Had the 80,000 extra British tourists materialised it would have meant an increase in jobs of 2,162. That, at a time of such long dole queues, would have been a very welcome trend in our economy.

The Minister was critical also of the 112 hotels which have closed since 1973. Last evening he seemed to make a sweeping condemnation of those hotels and hoteliers, which was not justified. That would give the impression to most people that those hotels had failed because they had been run inefficiently, whereas the Minister did not seem to shoulder any responsibility for the measures introduced by the Government which in many instances accounted for their closure.

Deputy Power dealt very ably with the Minister's statement in which he implied that he would prefer to see visitors to high grade hotels, in the top social bracket. No fair-minded person could go along with the Minister in those views. It will be a sad day for this country when we become that selective and cater only for the snob element. From my experience of talking with tourists, far from their being snobbish, the type of entertainment they enjoyed was traditional music and so on. It was the "Irishness" of it which seemed to attract them and not the snobbish element or the type of jet-set entertainment the Minister seemed to imply. Another speaker here, a neighbour of mine, seemed to be talking in the same vein as the Minister. The Minister did not seem to imply that the drop in tourism was due to the Northern troubles whereas the other speaker, who lives adjacent to the Border and who would be in a position to know, seemed to place all of the blame for our problems on the Northern troubles. A lot of people, especially speakers in the Coalition, are fond of looking for excuses. We had the Suez crisis and the Northern troubles and so on. Even if the Northern troubles were to disappear tomorrow Fine Gael and Labour politicians talking in ten years' time would still be referring to the Northern troubles. With the help of God the Northern troubles are tapering off and hopefully we will soon see a return to sanity.

The Minister accused me of talking about the closure of hotels. I referred to that but the statistics for 1975 show that the average occupancy of Irish hotels was 37 per cent. Even with the closure of those 112 hotels we have sufficient plant to cater for a very large increase in the number of visitors because as well as having only a 37 per cent average occupancy they also have profit before tax of 2.3 per cent. I asked the Minister how could he expect any industry running at 37 per cent capacity within a profit margin of 2.3 per cent to maintain existing standards apart from providing additional facilities. These figures indicate the serious position that the tourist industry is in.

The Minister claimed that my attitude towards access transport was in conflict with my colleague, Deputy Barrett. I refute that completely. I listed six suggestions that merit careful attention and I asked the Minister to give them consideration. I said that there should be careful definition of the national interest, the tourist interest and the airline interest in regard to scheduled and chartered flights. The Minister tried to turn what I said and to say that I was in some way downgrading our airlines. I made no mention of Aer Lingus becoming a charter company nor did I expect it to become subservient to the tourist industry.

For the benefit of those who are representing the Minister tonight I will outline again the suggestions which I made last night. The Minister had the opportunity of giving his opinion as to whether they were workable and to whether they would benefit the industry. The suggestions were: duty free facilities between Ireland and Britain and a petrol concession to tourists. The petrol concession suggestion was made at the time of the budget and had that been introduced in the spring of 1976 we would not be faced today with a fall off of 47,000 British tourists. The petrol increase and other increases, including the increase in VAT, rather than the Northern troubles were factors in the fall off in the number of tourists. The third suggestion was export tax relief for genuine sections of the tourist industry. We also suggested the setting up of a tourist credit corporation to aid the industry, to raise capital at favourable rates in this time of vanishing profits, that special attention be given to the problems concerning access transportation and that a national selling agency should be formed. I had hoped that the Minister would have been here to give us his opinion on these suggestions. Apart from the access transport suggestion the Minister did not give any indication at all as to what his thinking was on the other five suggestions. A national selling agency is a must which would co-ordinate all the individual efforts in the field of selling tourism abroad.

In relation to the Minister's remarks about conflict, I would like to point out that Fianna Fáil are very aware of Aer Lingus and of the importance of keeping them viable. Fianna Fáil gave birth to Aer Lingus. It was reported in one of our papers today that the Minister had said that food and drink were ridiculously cheap in Ireland. A report from the tourism seminar which was held in Cork on 24th November said that the seminar had been told that Ireland was becoming too expensive. The Minister was present at that seminar and I was intrigued to read in a newspaper report that he had said that the problem of violence may have masked underlying developments which have had an adverse effect on Irish tourism and may be difficult to perceive, and questioned whether Ireland might be becoming too expensive. Last night the Minister said that there was conflict between myself and another colleague. I certainly think that there is definitely conflict between Peter Barry and Peter Barry. I had hoped that I would have some time to refer to some of the suggestions made by other speakers.

Amendment put.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 62; Níl, 54.

  • Barry, Richard.
  • Begley, Michael.
  • Belton, Luke.
  • Bermingham, Joseph.
  • Bruton, John.
  • Burke, Liam.
  • Byrne, Hugh.
  • Clinton, Mark A.
  • Cluskey, Frank.
  • Collins, Edward.
  • Conlan, John F.
  • Coogan, Fintan.
  • Cooney, Patrick M.
  • Cosgrave, Liam.
  • Coughlan, Stephen.
  • Creed, Donal.
  • Cruise-O'Brien, Conor.
  • Desmond, Barry.
  • Desmond, Eileen.
  • Dockrell, Henry P.
  • Dockrell, Maurice.
  • Donegan, Patrick S.
  • Donnellan, John.
  • Dunne, Thomas.
  • Enright, Thomas.
  • Esmonde, John G.
  • Finn, Martin.
  • FitzGerald, Garret.
  • Fitzpatrick, Tom (Cavan).
  • Flanagan, Oliver J.
  • Gilhawley, Eugene.
  • Governey, Desmond.
  • Griffin, Brendan.
  • Halligan, Brendan.
  • Harte, Patrick D.
  • Hegarty, Patrick.
  • Hogan O'Higgins, Brigid.
  • Jones, Denis F.
  • Kavanagh, Liam.
  • Kelly, John.
  • Kenny, Enda.
  • Kyne, Thomas A.
  • L'Estrange, Gerald.
  • Lynch, Gerard.
  • McLaughlin, Joseph.
  • McMahon, Larry.
  • Malone, Patrick.
  • Murphy, Michael P.
  • O'Brien, Fergus.
  • O'Donnell, Tom.
  • O'Leary, Michael.
  • O'Sullivan, John L.
  • Pattison, Seamus.
  • Ryan, John J.
  • Ryan, Richie.
  • Spring, Dan.
  • Staunton, Myles.
  • Taylor, Frank.
  • Timmins, Godfrey.
  • Toal, Brendan.
  • Tully, James.
  • White, James.

Níl

  • Allen, Lorcan.
  • Andrews, David.
  • Barrett, Sylvester.
  • Brady, Philip A.
  • Brennan, Joseph.
  • Breslin, Cormac.
  • Brosnan, Seán.
  • Browne, Seán.
  • Burke, Raphael P.
  • Callanan, John.
  • Calleary, Seán.
  • Carter, Frank.
  • Colley, George.
  • Collins, Gerard.
  • Connolly, Gerard.
  • Crinion, Brendan.
  • Cronin, Jerry.
  • Crowley, Flor.
  • Daly, Brendan.
  • de Valera, Vivion.
  • Fahey, Jackie.
  • Farrell, Joseph.
  • Faulkner, Pádraig.
  • Fitzgerald, Gene.
  • Fitzpatrick, Tom (Dublin Central).
  • Flanagan, Seán.
  • Gallagher, Denis.
  • Geoghegan-Quinn, Máire.
  • Gibbons, Hugh.
  • Gogan, Richard P.
  • Haughey, Charles.
  • Hussey, Thomas.
  • Kenneally, William.
  • Kitt, Michael P.
  • Lalor, Patrick J.
  • Leonard, James.
  • Loughnane, William.
  • Lynch, Celia.
  • McEllistrim, Thomas.
  • MacSharry, Ray.
  • Molloy, Robert.
  • Moore, Seán.
  • Murphy, Ciarán.
  • Nolan, Thomas.
  • Noonan, Michael.
  • O'Kennedy, Michael.
  • O'Leary, John.
  • O'Malley, Desmond.
  • Power, Patrick.
  • Timmons, Eugene.
  • Tunney, Jim.
  • Walsh, Seán.
  • Wilson, John P.
  • Wyse, Pearse.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Kelly and B. Desmond; Níl, Deputies Lalor and Browne.
Amendment declared carried.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
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