I welcome the Minister. Like myself she has an interest in this area. I had intended to share my time with Senator Ross but, unfortunately, he had to be elsewhere. I know he agrees with my comments and given that perhaps the Minister will take my remarks doubly on board.
I could say many things about the budget, not all of them positive. I am critical of many schemes in it but one good one is the pilot renewal scheme for traditional seaside resorts. This offers a variety of tax breaks which could help rejuvenate many of our traditional seaside resorts which, because of sun holidays in the 1960s and 1970s, have become badly run down.
There are three such resorts in my constituency — Bray, Arklow and Greystones. I am amazed than none of them has been brought into the pilot scheme. There are a series of cogent reasons they should be included, to which I shall return.
The scheme offers a capital allowance of up to 100 per cent. This will be vital to resorts wanting to undertake costly tourism structures which are not necessarily traditional projects, such as building hotel accommodation. The major problem with the scheme is its focus on eight seaside resorts — Achill, Ballybunion, Bundoran, Kilkee, Lahinch, Tramore, Westport and Youghal — which are on the south, south-west, west and north-west coasts. I cannot understand why the east coast has been discriminated against. I wish all eight towns well. Each has its problems and a fine history of tourism. I am, however, astonished and annoyed that the three seaside resorts in County Wicklow have been omitted. I cannot understand why the Government deliberately discriminated against them.
I make a special plea to the Minister on behalf of Arklow. As she knows, successive Governments since the early 1980s have recognised Arklow as an unemployment blackspot. It has suffered the most major haemorrhage of traditional industries of any town. The IFI/NET nitrate plant has been wound down to low levels of operation, the porcelain industry closed, the tableware industry has declined; and so has the tourism industry.
All parties in Government over the last 12 years recognised the special position of Arklow. The town will shortly be by-passed. We are looking forward to it because it should bring the town closer to major centres but tourism in the town needs special attention. I ask the Minister to look at the position of Arklow before the Finance Bill and the necessary legislation go through. It could gain immeasurably from this scheme. Arklow's tourism base is well recognised. The town has been adventurous and entrepreneurs have invested a great deal of money there but the tax incentive afforded by this scheme could bring hundreds if not thousands of jobs to the town.
I also wish to put the special case of Bray before the House. Bray is the biggest tourist resort on the east coast and, in terms of volume during the 1950s and 1960s, it was probably the biggest tourist resort in the country. It went through a period of rapid decline, particularly when tourism traffic from the north of England declined because of the troubles in the North and as a result of the availability of sunshine holidays. An effort has been made in Bray in recent times to revitalise tourism. One of the major hotels has made a substantial investment in the area. We have seen the success of the seaside train and the tram on the seafront and there is a proposal to reactivate the cable car. There is an aquarium on the seafront which requires the best part of £300,000 to really get up and running. There is a series of run down lower grade hotels in Bray which would certainly benefit from the type of investment this scheme would generate.
When this scheme was first mooted Bray was one of the towns considered for its application. I lobbied previous Ministers for its inclusion and I make no apology for such lobbying. I am sure the Minister would lobby on behalf of her own constituency too. Bray is a town that really needs a specific input to reactivate its tourism infrastructure. The infrastructure and expenditure required in Bray — for example, the structure of the aquarium, the provision of structural facilities on the seafront — can only be secured through a specific scheme.
Bray, unlike Arklow, has gained twice in that the last two Governments gave Bray urban designation. Arklow, unfortunately, has been left out of not just this scheme but also urban designation. In Greystones there is a significant proposal to build a major marina on the seafront. However, one of the problems is that the Department of the Marine is demanding outrageous levels of fees for the project to proceed.
The resorts that are included in this scheme are already quite well provided for in a number of ways. The resort with which I am most familiar is Bundoran. It is a fine resort and has an extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit. However, it also receives extraordinary levels of support. It receives support from the International Fund for Ireland and from the various western schemes that are available in that area. However, there are no such supports in my constituency. Every pound invested by an entrepreneur in the tourism industry in County Wicklow and. indeed, in County Wexford is £1 net; it is not supported by special schemes. A real and cogent argument can be made in favour of all the east coast resorts — I have focused on three in County Wicklow — and I ask the Minister to communicate my urgent call on their behalf.
In Bray and Arklow major renewal and regeneration of the tourism infrastructure is under way. None of that regeneration has received what could reasonably be called support — although there has been much verbal support — from Governments over the last ten or 15 years. There is a great deal of anger in the area. We are trying to revive an industry and we once again find ourselves seriously disadvantaged. Capital in tourism, as in any other enterprise, is mobile. People with venture capital will, if they can benefit from tax breaks, invest in Bundoran, Achill, Tramore or Lahinch. They will not invest in places like Bray, Arklow, Greystones, Rosslare or other east coast resorts.
I ask the Minister to relay the message that east coast resorts and particularly those in Wicklow are bitterly disappointed at being excluded from this scheme. Previously, I lobbied Ministers strongly with regard to this scheme on behalf of my constituency. The Minister for Finance has introduced an adventurous and good scheme. It should not be focused on a few places that have already experienced a good deal of investment. If the Minister wishes to test the scheme, he could consider a town like Bray or Arklow and extend the number of resorts included in the scheme.
