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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 22 Oct 2002

Vol. 555 No. 5

Written Answers. - National Conference Centre.

Willie Penrose

Question:

119 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the position with regard to the proposed national conference centre; his views on reports that Ireland is losing out on a high amount of investment in international conference business due to the delay in providing a national conference centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19090/02]

As the Deputy is aware, An Agreed Programme for Government contains a commitment to ensure the construction of a state-of-the-art national conference centre. My Department is undertaking an assessment of the case for the provision of such a centre and how it might be achieved, and I hope to be in a position to take the matter to Government for further direction shortly.

While undoubtedly a dedicated national conference centre would be a desirable addition to our international conference infrastructure, there are no statistics available as to the actual amount of business that may have been lost to Ireland due to the absence of such a facility. What we do know is that the number of overseas conference visitors to Ireland in 2000 – 113,000, the latest figure available – represents almost a 200% increase on 1993 figures.

The past ten years or so have seen dramatic developments in Ireland's stock of conference facilities. However, physical conference infrastructure is only one part, albeit an important one, of optimising Ireland's share of the international conference market. Marketing is the other. In this regard, I understand that Bord Fáilte, in conjunction with the Convention Bureau of Ireland, is continuing to work closely with its industry partners to attract conference and business meetings to Ireland and together they are making every effort to increase our share of these lucrative markets.
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