The main item in the Minister's speech in which I am particularly interested is that dealing with Shannon Airport and the Shannon Development Company. In view of the fact that a Bill will be coming before the House in the near future and in view of the fact that the Minister has not given many details about the work of the Shannon Development Company, I propose to await the Bill to discuss it fully. However, there are a few matters relating to Shannon Airport mentioned in the Minister's speech which are worthy of comment.
I was particularly glad to note the improvement in the past year in passenger traffic through Shannon Airport. Passenger traffic is up by 14 per cent and this is the first increase since 1960. It reflects great credit on the work of the Shannon Development Company and particularly on the tourist section of that company. There is no doubt that over the past couple of years, since the Shannon Development Company entered the field of tourism, traffic through the airport has increased considerably. Among the notable achievements of the company has been the introduction of the mediaeval tours and the development of Bunratty Castle. These are paying very big dividends and I think they are mainly responsible for the increase of 14 per cent in passenger traffic.
I notice that the terminal traffic is up by 30 per cent but the transit traffic is down six per cent. Freight traffic is down by eight per cent but the terminal freight is up by 31 per cent. Am I to take it that terminal freight is freight originating from the Industrial Estate at Shannon? If that is so, and if there is an increase of 31 per cent in the terminal freight, it is also a very welcome development. There has also been an increase of 20 per cent in sales and catering at the airport and of course that is a logical and natural increase from the increase in the passenger traffic. There was some doubt during the early part of this year in regard to the restrictions being imposed on American tourists in respect of the amount of money they could spend. We were worried lest this might have an adverse affect on the sales of the duty-free shop. I should like the Minister to clear the air in this regard and to say whether or not there have been any developments since he replied to a question which I tabled last February regarding the amount of money which could be spent by American tourists, and whether or not there is a limit on the quantity of goods they can bring back when returning from their holidays here.
Another big factor which has contributed to the increase in passenger traffic in the past year was the inauguration of the Shannon-London service by BEA. This was something which we had been seeking for a long time and obviously there was a demand for a quicker service between Shannon and Britain. The business done since the inauguration of that service has justified its introduction. There is also, of course, the Aer Lingus-Manchester service and the Aer Lingus service to Paris. All that indicates that the future of Shannon as an airport lies mainly in the further promotion of tourism in the west and south-west. The introduction of the Holidays Scheme by CIE, package holiday deals, has also been very successful and these have also contributed to the increase in passenger traffic at Shannon. Considerable progress has been made in the development of tourism in the Limerick and Clare areas, the areas closest to the airport, but much more remains to be done. I hope that with the establishment of the regional tourist company, covering Limerick and Clare, other places that have tourist potential in these counties will be developed and that this will lead to further traffic through Shannon.
I shall not review the work of the Development Company in regard to the industrial estate and the provision of houses because I presume that will be dealt with more fully in the Shannon Airport Bill that will come before the House shortly. There have been certain improvements in the airport itself in the past year. The terminal building has been improved. I saw it the other day and there were certainly very welcome improvements in regard to catering and baggage handling facilities. There have been two interesting developments which may escape public notice which are very significant in the whole development of aviation and particularly in regard to Ireland's place in the field of international aviation. One is the development of what is called Eurocontrol of which we are now members and which leads to better safety regulations and so on; to better control of aircraft within the European area. There is also the fact that new arrangements have been made for what is known as the Shanwick area, the area on this half of the Atlantic, for better control of the upper air lanes. The fact that Ireland and Britain have negotiated this new arrangement leading to better co-ordination of services and therefore better safety arrangements is another welcome and desirable development.
The Minister dealt at length with Aer Lingus. He reported that they continue to make very good progress and have the highest load ratio of all the Atlantic carriers. I note that they have decided to sell their Friendship aircraft and that it is intended to purchase Viscounts from KLM. I am somewhat perturbed about this as I presume the Viscounts they are purchasing are secondhand. So far as I know up to this Aer Lingus has always for the most part obtained new aircraft and I think that policy of purchasing the latest type of aircraft has been a very significant factor in their success. I am not happy about purchasing second-hand aircraft from KLM. Perhaps the Minister would give some assurances when he replies to the debate.
It is pretty obvious from what has been said about Aer Lingus and its work in the past 12 months that the company has now reached the stage where shortage of aircraft is hampering further development. I note they have had to charter aircraft from other companies on several occasions in the past year. This is something also that must be looked into. If the extra business is there I should be in favour of pushing ahead and putting into service the latest type of aircraft rather than chartering planes from other companies or purchasing second-hand planes.
A very important aspect of this Estimate is tourism. Progress has undoubtedly been made in the development of tourism but that is no ground for complacency. Personally, I am not satisfied with the progress made in regard to tourist promotion in Britain. We have gone to the limit now and should go no further in attracting the type of tourist who looks for luxury hotel accommodation. I believe there is a tremendous potential in Britain and that we have not tackled this market as we should have tackled it. I also regret that due to some mix-up the Irish Tourist Board had to leave its offices in Regent Street and is now operating from temporary buildings in Cambodia Street. I know that some unforeseen circumstances arose particularly in regard to the alternative accommodation which was to have been provided in New Bond Street, in the New Ireland House, but it now transpires that the New Bond Street premises will not be available until September while the Board had to get out of Regent Street on May 15 and right through the peak season will be operating from an upper storey in Cambodia Street off Oxford Street. There is also no manager in the Glasgow office. I should like to know why and also why eight vacancies for salesmen for Great Britain advertised several months ago were not filled. I should like to know whether it is intended to appoint these people. The incidents I have mentioned have convinced me that the British tourist market is not being looked upon in the proper light.
I spoke on last year's Estimate about tourist promotion in Britain by the Irish Tourist Board and suggested that not enough emphasis was being placed on attracting angling tourists to this country. A certain amount of good work has been done. A survey was sponsored by the Angling Times and carried out by Market Research Limited, a leading UK Market research company, and that survey showed that there are 2.6 million anglers in Great Britain. More interesting still, it showed that 70 per cent of them were coarse fishermen, 20 per cent were sea fishermen and only ten per cent were interested in game fishing. I notice from a recent Bord Fáilte report that Bord Fáilte seem to think that the be-all and end-all of angling tourism is game fishing. On the statistics I have seen as a result of a survey carried out by the Angling Times, the great potential is the 1,500,000 coarse fishermen in Great Britain, who could be attracted to spend their holidays fishing on the numerous lakes and rivers that we have and which abound in coarse fish and provide excellent sport.
I feel that Bord Fáilte are not serious in their approach to this question of angling tourism because in the entire of Great Britain, where this great potential is, there is only one man engaged in the promotion of angling tourism in Ireland and that man has to fly to and fro several times a year and, in addition to advertising our fishing facilities in Great Britain and encouraging English fishermen to come here, he has to hop over here several times a year to advise local angling centres on various aspects of development. Surely that is beyond the bounds of human possibility. It is not possible for one man to cope efficiently with this type of tourist promotion.
I stated on the occasion of the debate on the Estimate for Transport and Power on a former occasion that I believe we need to have at least four men in Great Britain who would be engaged wholetime in advertising our angling facilities and organising and encouraging groups to come here and that we need to have at least four others in this country specialising exclusively in the development of angling centres.
Having studied the angling tourist market in Great Britain and having been engaged in an effort to develop one or two local centres in my own constituency I am aware that there is a lack of a proper advisory service. When a centre sets about doing something to develop its facilities a local committee is formed and there is considerable difficulty once a committee is formed in getting expert advice on the production of brochures, the improvement of facilities, amenities, and so on. This is a very serious matter particularly in view of the fact that there is a potential market of 2.6 million anglers in Great Britain.
I sincerely hope that over the next 12 months Bord Fáilte will have regard to the British market in a much more serious manner, that the vast potential there will be recognised and that a proper effort will be made to attract the maximum number of English visitors, not merely fishermen, but others, to spend their holidays here.
There are one or two other items. Deputy Treacy referred at length to the question of CIE pensions. I want again to refer to the whole approach to this question. I note from the Minister's speech that certain improvements have been made and, in particular, that the Minister said:
A very good feature of the new pension rates is that when the pension and social insurance benefits are combined, married pensioners opting for the alternative rate of pension will no longer be subject to a reduction of income at the age of 70 years.
With Deputy Treacy, I too believe that this idea of trying to amalgamate, if you like, the social payments with the CIE pension is a bad one and that, as Deputy Treacy said, a man who reaches the age of 70 is entitled to the contributory old age pension as of right and it was very unfair that his CIE pension should have been reduced. But, there is one question that I should like to ask the Minister. While the Minister did give us a reasonably detailed account of the new pension scheme for 14,000 CIE employees, I should like to know what is the position regarding the unfortunate CIE pensioners about whom I tabled a motion in this House one and a half years ago. These are the people who have retired in the last ten years. What about the people who are receiving £1 a week now? Admittedly, they got an increase of 8/- in the last 12 months and now have £1. Others have £1 2s. 6d. and those under 70 have £2 11s. 3d.
I should like the Minister, when replying, to go into greater detail regarding these three categories of pensioners and if they are not included in this particular scheme I sincerely hope that the Minister has not completely forgotten them and that he does not accept as adequate the miserable increase of 8/-, bringing their pension from 12/- to £1. I do not think that these persons are included in this scheme and I should like to know from the Minister what he proposes to do about them.
Of course, the unfortunate and tragic thing about these pensioners is the fact that they are getting on in years and their life expectancy is at most a few years. If we look at the figures for the last three or four years we find that each year there is a considerable reduction in their number. I would appeal, therefore, to the Minister, to see to it at this stage that these CIE pensioners will get some measure of justice in the last years of their lives.
One final matter to which I should like to refer is the question of harbours. A certain amount of money has been allocated for the development of a number of harbours but I am surprised to note that there is no mention of the Port of Limerick. I understand that certain proposals have been put forward and perhaps the Minister would be good enough, when replying to the debate, to say what has become of those proposals or whether it is intended to proceed with the development of the Port of Limerick.
