Vol. 247 No. 11
asked the Minister for Transport and Power why, in view of the fact that most of the factors now affecting tourist traffic to this country were identifiable several months ago, he did not make a special extra subvention to Bord Fáilte to enable them to take the necessary corrective action by way of a special intensive promotional campaign abroad.
21.
asked the Minister for Transport and Power whether any extra subvention is being made to Bord Fáilte to enable them to make the maximum possible use of the forthcoming tourist workshop at Frankfurt; and, if not, why.
22.
asked the Minister for Transport and Power whether Bord Fáilte have any plans to launch an intensive promotional campaign to generate extra tourist traffic during the coming off-peak season; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 19, 21 and 22 together.
As I explained to the Deputy in reply to a question on 19th May, the total funds provided to Bord Fáilte have been increased progressively each year and have doubled over the past four years. The Bord Fáilte allocation of £5.55 million for this year is £300,000 higher than last year. The allocation of these funds to various activities is a matter for Bord Fáilte, subject to such broad policy directives as may be given by me from time to time.
I also stated on 19th May that I did not envisage any special subvention in addition to that already allocated for this year but that corrective action within the limits of the budget was being taken by Bord Fáilte with the emphasis on seeking to attract traffic in the months immediately ahead. In fact, as the Dáil will be aware from the information I gave last week, there has been an improvement in the situation within recent weeks and present indications are that the prospects for the rest of this year are reasonably good.
I am sure that Deputies will appreciate that any substantial diversion of funds to counteract short-term adverse factors at the expense of long-term plans for the permanent building up of our tourist industry might not represent the best use of tourism funds or be in the best interests of tourism.
May I take it, first of all, that Bord Fáilte are paying special attention to the generation of off-peak season traffic and, secondly, that there are reasonable prospects that there will be a good amount of traffic between October and Christmas?
Yes, that is the whole purpose of the policy. The Deputy is perfectly correct.
