Vol. 419 No. 10
10 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications whether she has made a presentation to the European Commission as to the Government's proposals on the future development of the tourism industry in the European Community; and the way in which these proposals if passed will affect Ireland.
24 Mr. Moynihan asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications if she will outline her proposals for the expansion of rural tourism projects, under the proposed 1994-99 tourism Structural Funds programme.
I propose to take Question Nos. 10 and 24 together.
The post-1993 Community budgetary position is currently under negotiation at EC Council level. The outcome will, among other things, determine the total amount of structural funding available within the Community after 1993. While allocations to individual member states will not be decided for some time, the Government will, of course, be seeking to secure the highest possible level of funding for Ireland.
In the meantime, the Government have commenced work on the next national development plan for Structural Fund purposes. The Minister for Finance has recently invited the subregional review committees and the social partners to make submissions outlining their view as to the content and strategy of this plan.
I will not be finalising proposals for the future development of the tourism industry until I have had an opportunity to consider their submissions and, in the case of rural tourism, I will, of course, be liaising with my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture and Food.
I am very surprised that at this stage the Minister has not presented proposals to the European Commission in relation to an overall tourism plan for the next five, seven and ten years. How many European Council meetings have been held in Europe to deal with tourism matters since the Minister took office? Is the Minister in favour of the organisation of a commissionership for tourism post-1996 and are the Government supportive of such a proposal so as to ensure that the commissionership would have adequate funds to deal with regions such as Ireland?
The answer to the first part of the question is that no tourism council meetings have been held since I became Minister. The second question is primarily a matter for the commission itself. The President of the Commission allocates all of the portfolios within the Commission. As the Deputy is aware, the Commissioner for Tourism also has responsibility in other areas at present. I suppose that it is because there are so many portfolios and so few commissioners that, like Governments, they have to double up.
It is the same all the way up — so many commissioners and so few portfolios.
The Minister's reply seems to indicate that the Government have not presented a tourism plan to the European Commission. If the Minister has not already done so, will she seek the integration of existing tourism services? For example, a Euro register for tourist agencies would help to develop this country by the provision of easier liaison between one country and another. Would the Minister be in favour of a Euro consumer charter of tourism rights in relation to accident and criminal attacks?
The Deputy is bringing in quite an amount of extraneous matter.
We are dealing with a plan for this country's tourism.
The matter is worthy of a separate question, Deputy.
The Minister has informed the House that the Government have not presented a plan to the European Commission.
Let us hear the Minister.
I do not blame the present Minister in this regard. I blame her predecessor because it is quite obvious that for the past three or four years nothing has been done to organise the development of tourism.
As the Deputy knows, there is in existence an operational programme for tourism that will finish its term in 1994. In the context of the Delors II package, which was agreed only on 11 February, the details of which have yet to be worked out by the Commission itself, the procedure followed previously will be followed again. First, each of the Governments in the Objective I region will prepare a national development plan. That plan is presented to Brussels, where, in turn, a Community support framework is produced. Based on the content of the Community support framework an operational programme for tourism is then prepared.
In relation to the way in which the Government are operating their business at present, the Department of Finance have asked each Government Department to produce their proposals for inclusion in a national development plan. Considering that the Commission proposals have been available only since February and that the Commission regulations in that regard have not yet been received, I consider that a great deal of work has gone into the preparation of what we want included in a new national development plan.
Was the Minister satisfied with the manner in which the disbursements of the 1989-93 Structural Fund were made in that a very high percentage of the funds was spent on large, individual projects and a very small percentage was distributed among the wider elements? In view of the urgency to develop a real rural tourism policy, having regard to the decline in agriculture and the decline in industry, and the urgent need to retain population and jobs, would the Minister agree that the presentation of a policy for the next four years provides an opportunity to create a massive development? There is a great interest in wilderness, isolation, castles, old homes, and so on, and this task should be undertaken immediately by the Minister and the Government in the interests of rural Ireland.
In relation to the second part of the Deputy's question concerning rural tourism, the finance for agri-tourism came from the Agricultural Directorate in Europe to the Department of Agriculture and Food and was disbursed by Bord Fáilte. The funding was so small that the uptake was immediate and therefore many good projects that could have been supported and would have been supported if further funding were available could not be supported.
On the larger question concerning the distribution of the Structural Funds to date, a decision was made in 1987-88, when the operational programme for tourism was being put together, that one of the things we needed in this country now was an upgrading of the quality of the product. This is because people will no longer come to Ireland merely for the beauty of the scenery or the hospitality of the people and now go for activity holidays on a much greater scale than before. Therefore, we needed to invest the Structural Funds support we were receiving from Europe into providing that kind of quality product. That was the basis on which we provided many all-weather facilities right across the country divided into each of the regions. Now we have an opportunity, in the preparation of the new operational programme for tourism, to examine that, ascertain how it worked, what response we received and ascertain whether we need to change it in any way.
A Cheann Comhairle, a brief supplementary——
We cannot debate tourism here today. The Chair has allowed quite some latitude on the matter. I will allow a very brief question.
Would the Minister say whether the stop-go policy obtaining in the tourism sector in so far as grants for the development of projects are concerned — in respect of which she accepts there are no funds — is demoralising to those people endeavouring to attract tourists here?
I do not accept that there is a stop-go policy.
There was an operational programme for tourism and X amount of money available for investment in tourism. Applications were submitted which were judged by Bord Fáilte, who were the people appointed by the European Commission and the Government to arbitrate on these issues. The funds have been disbursed accordingly. I explained a moment ago, and will not repeat, the basis on which that was done, in order to upgrade the quality of product available here. Of course there were not sufficient funds. Indeed had we had more funds we would have been able to assist further projects. That is why we are hoping that with the increased funding that will become available by way of the new tranche of Structural Funds under the Delors II package, we will be able to assist some projects that had been submitted but had not been implemented because they did not receive support and indeed encourage others as well.
There are no plans so the funds will go by the wayside.
