Vol. 446 No. 3
250 Mr. L. Burke asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade, in view of the funding made available to Shannon and regional airports (details supplied) when funding will be made available to Cork Airport under the headings tourism and marketing, Initiative North America and tourism and traffic development (SFADCo): if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Cork Airport is one of the largest employers in the region; and when funding will issue. [1858/94]
Funding of airports, both regional airports and national airports, is the responsibility of the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications. Accordingly, I have no function in the allocation of funds for 1993 and 1994 in respect of either the first or final headings in the table by Deputy Liam Burke.
I assume that the tourism and marketing Initiative North America heading refers to the US Marketing Initiative, which was co-funded by the private sector and included a contribution of £0.5 million, together with £1.5 million in European Regional Development Fund funds, from my Department's tourism promotion and development fund. This initiative is a promotional campaign intended to secure an increase in the overall number of US tourists visiting Ireland. No particular region or airport is promoted through the initiative.
As Shannon Development is responsible for developing the tourism sector in the Mid-West Region. I allocated £3 million to Shannon Development over the two-year period 1993-94 for the promotion and development of tourism in the Mid-West Region.
As the Deputy is aware, responsibility for developing the tourism industry in the Cork region rests with Bord Fáilte which received a total allocation of over £43 million in the two-year period 1993-94. The operational programme for tourism which I launched recently will make a major investment in marketing Irish tourism.
