Vol. 537 No. 2
48 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if all heritage sites have been reopened following the foot and mouth scare; if steps are planned to promote the sites for the remainder of the tourism season; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15733/01]
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that all sites normally open at this time of year, managed by Dúchas, the Heritage Service of my Department, and where a guide service is provided, which were closed or which did not reopen due to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease, are now open. The reopening of the sites was made possible by the relaxation on controls that had been put in place to prevent the spread of the disease. The expert group on foot and mouth disease that was established by my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, advised that from 11 May individuals could be allowed access to land for recreational activities such as hill walking subject to certain conditions.
In particular, the expert group recommended that footwear should be cleaned and disinfected before and after use, dogs must be kept under effective control at all times and direct contact with susceptible animals must be avoided. In the light of this advice, I was able to announce the re-opening to the public of the national parks in Killarney, Connemara, Glenveagh, Wicklow and the Burren with effect from that date. The Phoenix Park was also re-opened to the public for recreational purposes. Access to practically all of the national monuments and nature reserves, which are managed by Dúchas where a guide service is not provided, is now possible. The exceptions are sites where access is through private land, where consent of landowners is necessary. It is essential that visitors to the sites comply with the procedures recommended by the expert group in order to prevent any further outbreak of the disease in the State.
The sites with a guide service are promoted in the Heritage Sites of Ireland brochure, which is published by the education and visitor services division of my Department. A national edition and seven regional editions of the brochure are published. Some 325,000 copies of the national brochure are distributed to the regional tourism authorities. Some 160,000 copies of the national brochure in French, German, Spanish and Italian are distributed to Bord Fáilte offices overseas. The brochure is also available at the individual sites. Some 200,000 copies of the regional editions of the brochure are also distributed. A website, heritageireland.ie, provides information on the opening times of the sites in six different languages. I am satisfied the sites managed by my Department are adequately promoted. I understand that a national promotional campaign of all tourist attractions, including the sites managed by my Department, is being undertaken by my colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Deputy McDaid.
I welcome the news from the Minister that all the national parks are open again and I acknowledge the measures being put in place to promote the use of those national parks. The Minister described the measures as adequate. I put to her that people's livelihoods depend on the traffic through the national parks and that there is a need for further measures to encourage and develop more business in the short to medium term to make good the shortfall to operators in the tourism sector who are an important support to the full exploitation of these assets.
The Deputy is perfectly correct in saying heritage tourism forms an important part of the tourism sector and perhaps will become more important in future years. My colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Deputy McDaid, is ensuring that there will be a national promotional campaign for the all the attractions, including sites managed by my Department. In fact, he made a very positive statement yesterday, where further moneys were being made available to deal with these promotions.
I agree with my colleague, Deputy O'Shea, that national parks are a major tourist attraction. In my county, as the Minister of State, Deputy Coughlan, would understand, Glenveagh attracts about 100,000 visitors per annum. It will be very difficult to reach these figures this year due to the fact that these parks have just been recently reopened.
Following the Cabinet meeting in Killarney yesterday, we understand that £2 million has been allocated towards the promotion of tourism in Ireland. I suggest that a significant percentage of that money should be devoted to promoting national parks and heritage areas and sites which have suffered as a result of the foot and mouth disease crisis.
The views expressed in news reports last night on the question of tourism seemed to be very positive and obviously I am pleased at that. The Government dealt with the foot and mouth disease crisis immediately when it arose to ensure that all precautions were taken in the hope that the disease would not spread. As a result, we have a happy story to tell at this time of the year when perhaps it is most important that we are able to open up the countryside for further visitors.
On the promotion and marketing of these sites, it is, first, the preserve of the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation to decide on how the promotional campaign will be run but I will certainly have a word with him. I know that he will include the national parks in his campaign to promote our tourism attractions. As the Deputies stated, they obviously play an important part in tourism, both in the local areas and regionally.
I acknowledge that general tourism measures are being put in place by her colleague but I still put it to the Minister that there is a need for a more focused approach from her Department.
How many animals in national parks were slaughtered as part of the foot and mouth disease prevention policy and what were the species?
I can certainly get that information for the Deputy. As he will be aware, the main concern was around the Cooley area because of the outbreak there. The susceptible animals were deer in particular. Happily the crisis did not escalate because of the tremendous efforts of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, in particular, to ensure that every suspect case of foot and mouth disease was dealt with immediately.
The Deputy can be assured that we will continue to promote the sites. As I stated, we do so on an ongoing basis anyway through the education and visitor services division of my Department. Obviously that takes a great deal of time and effort. As I stated in my initial reply, this information is made available in a number of European languages and on the website. We will work with the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation to ensure there is further promotion.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
