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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 Mar 1997

Vol. 475 No. 8

Other Questions. - Tourism Policy Monitoring.

Martin Cullen

Question:

12 Mr. Cullen asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the role his Department plays in monitoring implementation of policy in the area of tourism; the way in which it does so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6041/97]

The Department of Tourism and Trade, through its tourism division, has responsibility for the formulation of national policy on tourism and for monitoring its implementation. The execution of this policy is a matter for the main tourism agencies, Bord Fáilte, CERT and SFADCo.

Bord Fáilte is responsible for promoting and developing tourism traffic in and to the State in accordance with the Tourist Traffic Acts, 1931-95. Since 1995 Bord Fáilte has been restructured to secure a new focus on aggressively marketing the Irish tourism product worldwide.

CERT, the Council for Education, Recruitment and Training for the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Industry, was established in 1963 with the objective of ensuring the highest management and operational standards through the provision of a trained workforce and advisory service to industry managers.

Shannon Development is responsible for tourism development in the mid-west region, including development of new tourism products and provision of tourist information services.

In their execution of tourism policy the agencies retain day-to-day responsibility for their expenditure and for the operation of the schemes and services provided by them to the tourism industry. The agencies report directly to the Department which monitors their respective performance against policy objectives including overall expenditure of grants-in-aid from the Department's Vote.

The main issues in respect of which the Department is currently developing and monitoring policy are set out in the Department's Strategic Management Statement, 1997-99 recently published as part of the "Delivering Better Government" initiative. A copy of the statement is available in the Dáil Library.

The process of monitoring implementation of policy is carried out by the Department through regular liaison meetings with the agencies and through ongoing contact by my officials at all levels with both the agencies and the sector. This contact is supplemented and expanded in the course of exchanges arising through participation by the Department and the agencies in other consultative and advisory fora such as the National Tourism Council and the National Monitoring Committee for the Operational Programme for Tourism, 1994-99.

Overall, I am of the view that the processes which I have outlined adequately serve to position my Department so that it can monitor effectively the implementation of tourism policy. I am also satisfied they are sufficiently flexible and pragmatic to accommodate all incremental changes in policy that are required from time to time.

The Minister draws a distinction between the creation of national policy and its implementation and its execution by the agencies. In assessing performance against the policy it appears the Minister and his Department are too far removed from what is happening on the ground. There are many examples of that. One would be the regional disparities which the Minister claims are effectively the responsibility of Bord Fáilte in terms of executing policy. I believe, however, that implementing policy is inherently the direct responsibility of the Department. That is one area where the problems of tourism are not being adequately addressed in this House because it is referred to as a Bord Fáilte matter.

Another example concerns the inspection procedures which have been handed out to the private sector and are creating quite a lot of difficulty, as the Minister is aware. The line which is being drawn between Bord Fáilte and the Department as regards the execution of the policy and its implementation is most unhelpful, and the problems are being allowed to grow.

The Deputy is aware that national policy is laid down by the Minister and the Department. He is also aware that money is then voted by the Exchequer and transmitted through the Department to the agencies, SFADCo, Bord Fáilte and CERT. Without these agencies the policy would have to be implemented by the Department, which could give rise to other problems.

The contacts between these agencies and the Department are sufficiently common and pragmatic to deal with all of this, in addition to which, I have meetings from time to time with the chairmen and members of the boards. We also have the Tourism Council, which acts in an advisory capacity to me as Minister, and the national monitoring committee.

I am not aware of any difficulties in respect of the inspection process the Deputy mentioned. If the Deputy wants to have specific matters raised I will be happy to deal with them. The inspection processes were tendered out to companies on a competitive basis and they implement Bord Fáilte's standards. I make no apology for saying that our standards, irrespective of whether they are in a bed and breakfast or a five star hotel, should be of the highest standard and quality available. This is the imprint which must go on all our facilities and products in order to continuously change this industry so that people will want to return here. That is so important for us.

I strongly agree with the last part of what the Minister said. Nevertheless, some people say the transfer of functions from Bord Fáilte to some of the private operators has not been as smooth as it might have been, and there are practical difficulties. Some people suggest the very standards which we seek to preserve and improve are not being adequately addressed by some private operators. I will contact the Minister privately about it. As this is a policy area, I would prefer to have his Department follow it up immediately rather than have Bord Fáilte do it.

When the Arthur D. Little company was asked to look at the question of restructuring Bord Fáilte, it made certain recommendations. The Deputy is aware the board as it operated was unable to deal with all these issues. That is why certain measures were tendered out to various companies even though the Bord Fáilte standards still apply. Essentially, the board's remit is to be an international marketing agency for Ireland. It does that in superb fashion and will continue to do so in future.

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