Vol. 501 No. 6
80 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the position in relation to the decreasing numbers of visitors attending interpretative centres in the west and north west; the strategy, if any, devised to address the issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3471/99]
I refer the Deputy to my response to Question No. 48 on 3 February 1999. I stated then that Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department, is responsible for the care of many protected areas in the west, ranging from parks and gardens to national monuments. Although the overriding responsibility is that of conservation, the presentation of heritage sites to the public plays a key part in tourism. Each of these sites provides interpretation, some in purpose built buildings, others in existing buildings or monuments depending on the circumstances in each case.
There were six heritage sites open to the public in 1980 in the western counties, from Donegal to Kerry, and they attracted 202,000 fee paying visitors in that year. By 1998 the number of such sites open to the public had risen to 23 with visitors to these sites amounting to some 763,000 – the comaparative figures for 1996 and 1997 were 760,000 and 757,000 respectively. Figures can fluctuate at individual sites depending on a variety of circumstances but overall there has been an upward trend in visitor numbers to the sites.
In my previous reply I outlined the strategy to maintain and improve visitor numbers at sites and I am happy to say that there is close co-operation with Bord Fáilte and the regional tourism authorities in this regard.
