Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 3 Jun 1999

Vol. 159 No. 15

Tourism Industry: Statements (Resumed).

Mr. T. Fitzgerald

I am glad of this opportunity to speak on tourism, unlike my good friend on the other side of the House, Senator Manning. On the last occasion, quite a number of Opposition Members contributed to the debate.

I come from County Kerry, where tourism has been to the forefront for many years. Since the early part of this century, Killarney was the place to go. It was known worldwide in song and story. The jarveys and the lakes of Killarney are part and parcel of that. I am often asked why Kerry is so popular with tourists and I always recall the beginning of tourism in Killarney.

Our tourism industry has built up reasonably well over the years, although I have faults to find with the people running it. There are three or four different categories of accommodation but they are regulating themselves, rather than Bord Fáilte doing it. They are self-regulating and everyone is trying to provide better accommodation than their neighbours. Ordinary bed and breakfast houses have now reached a standard comparable with any hotel in Dublin. They provide good sized en suite rooms at the height of the season for £18 a night. However, this is where the trouble arises, as I have said in the past.

Many people from rural areas, more so than people from Dublin, do not book holidays but tour Ireland, stopping wherever they like. They go to the tourist offices, which are very helpful and have a computerised system. They check the computer to see who has vacancies for that night and then ring the owners. That is fine but they charge the owners a fee of 10 per cent for providing a service to a person who might not turn up. It is a bit high-handed that when one is charging £18, or £16 in the low season, one has to give £1.80 per person back to Bord Fáilte. The tourist does not pay for that, which is quite unusual. In my experience of other countries, when one books in a tourist or information office one pays the fee. It is not deducted from the price one is charged in the hotel or guest house. Our system is wrong and should be changed.

It drives me wild to hear city and county authorities talking about putting a charge on tourism. What do they want to do? I would welcome some charge on tourism but it should be at the point of entry. It is ludicrous to talk about levying a charge for entering every county. That would drive people away because it would cost £150 to travel to every county in Ireland if they all put on a charge. I support the idea of a one-off service charge for tourists on entry to the country, which would go to the main tourist body and be distributed throughout the country to help tourism.

I do not like the idea of county councils getting involved in tourism. There has been a great deal of talk about this lately, with veiled mentions in Government documents of councils becoming increasingly involved in tourism. They should be building better roads rather than sticking their noses into something they know nothing about. This is happening in my county, where the county manager is setting up a team to look into tourism. He and his officials are looking at ways to promote tourism in County Kerry, which must be the greatest joke ever. They do not have to promote it – all they have to do is to provide what we are looking for, such as good roads and proper signs. These same people in the county councils go out early in the morning to take down unauthorised bed and breakfast signs, without any warning, and do not return them. This happened little over a year ago in my town. Ordinary people put up nice clean bed and breakfast signs but the council stated they were unauthorised and it did not know who owned them. Council lorries went out and they took down every sign in the place. It was very high-handed and it has not happened since.

This is the reason I say county councils are not helping tourism. If they were, they would ensure stone walls are not built on the ways to our beaches. This is happening within five miles of my home. A stone wall is being built across a road because the man claims he owns the road. This often happens when people of other nationalities – I do not want to say foreigners – move here. They assert their rights more than Irish people would. Over the years we have accepted people wandering over our land and farms. We do not put emphasis on it. However when ownership is transferred to a person from another country, barbed wire is erected and the owner stakes out his or her boundaries. They will stake out their boundaries through a beach and as far as they are allowed and suddenly one cannot cross it.

I want the councils to look at these matters. They should consider these issues and whether a law is being broken. However, they will claim it is not a matter for them but for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform or the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources, or that the owner has the right to do it as he or she owns the property. Over the years, people have wandered all over Ireland unrestricted. To go to half the lakes in Ireland – and I do not want to be parochial but this is particularly true in my part of the country – one must trespass on somebody's land, but nobody will bother about it. When ownership changes to a person other than an Irish person, that owner has a different attitude and barriers and barbed wire boundaries go up. I may be speaking in a veiled manner. I do not want to mention any person or place but the problem exists.

I find fault with how the country is sold. I do not wish to be overly critical of Bord Fáilte but as I have stated before, if Bord Fáilte did not exist the same number of tourists would come to Ireland. Only recently I was on a short trip to Norway and we met the Irish community in Bergen which was headed by a man from Dublin called Liam Lawlor. He said we have forgotten about them. There are many Irish people in Norway and there is no way for them to come home to Ireland without first flying to Copenhagen. He said they like the old sod and they like to support our airlines. However no Aer Lingus, Ryanair or other Irish carrier flies to Oslo or elsewhere in Norway. He asked me to take this message home and point out Norway on a map to Bord Fáilte. They maintain there is a huge potential there.

A year ago the Canadian-Irish people told me that we have forgotten and do not care about them. This has happened. It is not enough to open an office staffed by a couple of people and place a sign in the window stating "Bord Fáilte, Irish Tourist Board". It is not enough for Bord Fáilte to throw some of the biggest parties in Europe. Three or four years ago, Bord Fáilte won an award for being one of the best tourist boards in Europe. Many people from various organisations, particularly from newspaper organisations, came to the Skelligs Hotel in Dingle. I said to some of the people from the foreign newspapers that it was great that Bord Fáilte had won the award and asked how it had won it. I was told it was because Bord Fáilte throws the best parties for the press. I am critical of Bord Fáilte. It should pull up its socks and do the business properly. Up to now it has not done that.

Dr. Henry

I cannot understand how Senator Fitzgerald does not know the reason Kerry is so popular. Apart from west Cork it must be the most popular destination. I sincerely hope I man age to make a trip to Mary Dolores Ní Ghearailt in Feonach again this summer. One of the most delightful areas one can visit is Senator Fitzgerald's area. I have spent the most happy times exploring the Corca Dhuibhne area. I am speaking to a discreet audience this morning and I will not tell anyone else about the area. It is so delightful, I do not want any more disturbance there. It is quite spectacular there at this time of the year. Apart from the beautiful scenery, one can be interested in the archaeology and the anthropology of the area. I am lucky enough to have the short edition of the report published following an archaeological and anthropological investigation of the area of Corca Dhuibhne a few years ago. I ask the Minister to support similar ventures in other parts of the country. These detailed explorations of our past are worthwhile and valuable.

When talking about tourism it is important to remember the most important tourists are domestic tourists. This type of publication should be available. It is not only people from other countries who wish to discover the history of the area. Irish people would also like to find out about the archaeology and history of these places. I applaud the local committees in many small areas who have put such effort into restoration and the improvement of facilities at sites around the country. Recently I visited King House in Boyle. It is a tremendous example of the efforts of the people in Boyle, aided of course by the Minister's Department, to make Boyle into a good tourist destination, with its Cistercian abbey and King House which has been superbly restored. The restoration is as good as anything I have seen anywhere. These local efforts must be encouraged.

The improvement in lower price accommodation is welcome, as Senator Fitzgerald stated. It is possible to avail of that now anywhere in Ireland. Bord Fáilte deserves praise for trying to keep up standards. I also praise all those who opened their houses to take in people to the hidden Ireland and give them bed and breakfast and dinner. They let them be part of the family in some of the big houses in Ireland. This brings in money but it is also quite a strain on a family and I applaud those who have done it because it opens up another side of Irish life to a particular category of visitors who want to go to these areas. The family try to give their visitors tremendous information on the life and times of the country and they have to be applauded for the efforts they make.

Senator Tom Fitzgerald raised the difficulties of access from abroad. I can understand the problems of access from Oslo but the people of Norway can travel from Copenhagen from where there is a very good air service to and from Ireland. I applaud Ryanair for the efforts they have made to provide flights at reasonable prices to and from small airports in France and Italy. One can fly from airports in Rimini and Pisa to Stansted and then on to Ireland at remarkably reduced rates. One can fly from Toulouse, Car cassonne, Clermont Ferrand and Beauvais, north of Paris. The flights are always full.

Duty free shopping comes up for consideration on Monday and it will certainly be abolished at some stage. We are wiser to look at ways to encourage people to shop in our airports rather than constantly worrying about the impact of the abolition of duty free shopping. I know I am a captive customer in an airport. A friend of mine says that as soon as the flight is called I immediately start to try on clothes. What we need to concentrate on at the airports is not duty free shopping – and I have made my views known in this House on the sale of cigarettes duty free – but on quality Irish goods. The range and quality of goods for sale has improved remarkably but I regret that clothes marketed under the Guinness name which look as if they are made in Ireland are not. I would like to see goods that appear to be Irish are in fact made in Ireland; for example, many of the toys are made in Indonesia. It would be a very good idea if a huge effort was made to source Irish produce for sale in these shops.

Senator Quinn referred to the problems in Belgium as a result of dioxin being inadvertently sold as poultry feed. All products that contain eggs and chicken produced in the first five months of this year have had to be destroyed. This is a terrible disaster and it makes clear how very careful we have to be that the Food Safety Authority is up to the mark. This is not only important for food exports but for the food that is eaten in this country. We have an opportunity to capitalise on our "green" unadulterated food. I try to buy organic produce and when I see how quickly that food goes bad in a few days and how long some supposedly fresh foods will last, for example tomatoes, I wonder what is in them to give them such staying power and I do not know that I want these products in me. It would be well worthwhile to emphasise that the vast majority of food here is home produced and that we will guarantee it is up to the highest standards. We are inclined to concentrate on the cost whereas the quality of food is equally important. It was Myrtle Allen who was the real promoter of the use of good produce and I am delighted to see how well Ballymaloe Foods are selling. She promoted the importance of quality and flavour and our excellent native ingredients. We should be careful of importing cash crops, out of season food which is not to our benefit.

The Minister may not be aware of proposed changes to the street furniture. An Post proposes to replace our ancient pillar boxes with new ones on the grounds of health and safety because the postmen have to stoop to remove the letters from them. I have corresponded with An Post, the corporation and An Bord Pleanála on the importance to the city of these ancient relics with VR, ER, GR and P agus T. I suggest An Post might be asked to modify rather than replace them with the most unattractive impersonal post boxes. Members may remember we replaced the street light furniture at one stage and we have had to return to the more attractive older light furniture.

I hope that people in the South will be encouraged to holiday in Northern Ireland this summer, preferably in June. It is important to have an exchange of views with the people of Northern Ireland and I am always disappointed how few people from the Republic of Ireland spend time in Northern Ireland. This is important if we are to have a real knowledge of people in the other part of our island. They are then more likely to visit us.

Mr. Farrell

I welcome this debate on tourism as it gives us an opportunity to raise issues that have not been discussed adequately. I would like a greater emphasis on ocean tourism. The promotion of tourist facilities on the west coast suffered as a result of the troubles in the North, whereas Kerry was more fortunate. I pay tribute to Mr. C.J. Haughey who opened Knock Airport to bring people directly into the west. He also opened the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell Canal when it was not popular to do so. These developments were criticised but they generate major tourism spend today.

People sail their yachts from France and Spain but unfortunately there are no marinas from Kilrush to Portrush on the west coast. That is a lot of beautiful coastline without a marina. I thank the Minister and Bord Fáilte which is addressing this. The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources is also considering this issue and I ask that it be pursued more vigorously. The tourist board and Sligo County Council are supporting the development of a marina in Rosses Point and the local yacht club has collected £150,000 in private funding for it. The county council is backing water sports in Enniscrone. Without the hands on approach of the local authorities, tourism in the west would not have been developed to the extent it has. Before it was abolished, the tourism grant for roads ensured that roads on scenic routes were developed and wonderful work was carried out with that money. That grant did much to help develop roads and scenic routes in the west.

Senator Tom Fitzgerald mentioned those people who have purchased estates that run as far as the sea. It happened in Mullaghmore, my own area, and all the bridle paths have been closed. It is not a matter for the county council and local people are not in a position to take those responsible to court. The result is that the bridle paths will remain closed. It is a pity because those bridle paths provided nice walks for locals and tourists staying in the area.

Another asset to tourism which has disappeared in the west is the small farmer. Tourists came to Ireland to meet the people. It is rare nowadays to meet people in rural areas. Years ago people would meet men working in the fields and at every crossroads. They could give directions to any place. Nowadays a person can travel from Dublin to Cork and not see anyone outside the cities. The people in towns often cannot answer the questions tourists ask.

I appeal to the Government and the EU to pay to keep small farmers farming organically – traditional farming we used to call it – instead of paying people to leave land fallow. There should be grants for people to plough land with horses. We should bring back the old ways of doing things.

The demise of the small farmer has caused the demise of wildlife, not because of insecticides or fertilisers, rather because of starvation. When the farmer set his half acre of potatoes in the past the póiríní, as we called the small potatoes, were left behind. Today they are being cooked in the hotels and some are the size of marbles. They were food for wildlife along with the oats, wheat and barley when they were sown. That has disappeared from rural areas. It is time that we promoted the traditional way of life which tourists come to see. It would be better if farmers were paid to promote wildlife instead of leaving land fallow.

In the large estates such as the Lisadell and Mountbatten estates, workmen were sent out with a horse and cart to hang sheaves of oats on trees and posts to feed the birds in the winter and keep the pheasants and wildlife alive. That is no longer done. If there was a bad winter there is no food for wildlife. When I hear of a road being held up in County Kildare because a man in County Cork says there is a snail there which must be preserved, I consider it a joke.

I walked around the sand banks in Mullaghmore recently and perceived that coastal erosion has become very serious. The equivalent of two golf courses has been swept away from the sand banks. There would be all kinds of objections if someone wanted to build a golf course there, but the land is disappearing without anyone noticing. Those are the things of beauty which tourists come to see.

The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation is doing good work but he should revitalise the farming community in the west. That is what tourists want to experience. They come to Ireland to meet the people but they do not meet them nowadays.

Yeats country makes up the heart of the tourism in the west. Thanks to the Reverend Ian Gallagher, and his promotion of Drumcliffe church, the structure has been refurbished and the Taoiseach will open it next week. It will be a great addition to the tourist attractions in the area. The site on which the church and churchyard were built is older than Stonehenge. Yet, in spite of that it was nearly derelict. Thanks to Reverend Gallagher, it is no longer so and will now become an attraction.

I was in England 30 years ago and I came across Stonehenge accidentally. I had to pay a half crown to park my car, a half crown to a guide and a half crown for a booklet, because the guide would not take people on the tour without it. That was 30 years ago when money was scarce. In Drumcliffe, and every other tourist area, everything is free. People should have to pay to enjoy our scenic beauty.

Every pub now provides food but many restaurants have only a wine licence. If we are to be on a par with Europe those licences should be upgraded to full licences. There should be a level playing field. As the House knows, I am not a supporter of alcohol, but every European restaurant has a full licence.

To travel by car ferry costs £170 for five days but if a person wants to stay for six days it costs £340. Why should there be a five day fare? Anyone coming to Ireland wants to stay more than five days. These are advertised as cheap rates but they are only for five days. The authorities should examine why the fares cannot be at least ten days.

The sale of alcohol on airplanes should be abolished. It causes a great deal of trouble.

Mr. Manning

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I was disappointed when he declined to turn out in the Dublin football colours. The way some of the forwards are playing at the moment, he would have been an improvement, although like most people from the country, I find it hard to shake off my allegiance to my home county.

As we approach Bloomsday, James Joyce would approve of the stream of consciousness which has characterised this debate.

Tourism has been one of the great success stories of modern Ireland. It is important that we recognise the extraordinary contribution it makes all year round. I listened to Senator Tom Fitzgerald's evocation of the beauties of Killarney. At one time, tourism was synonymous with two or three locations, such as Killarney and Blarney. It was for a fixed period during the summer and for a few places. Now tourism is an all-Ireland industry which operates all year. That did not happen by accident; it happened because successive Governments invested in the industry.

Our tourism industry is as professional as any in the world. In ten or 12 years there has been enormous growth in the infrastructure of tourism, and not just in the number of hotels which have been built. Many people wonder if the market for hotels will become saturated but so far there has been no sign of that. It is still difficult to get a hotel room on a weekend night in Dublin. We have seen this sector grow.

We have seen the marketing of Ireland change and become infinitely more sophisticated. Marketing priorities will always be a matter of contention between the competing interests in the tourism industry. I am not in a position to judge. I must take the view that Bord Fáilte has highly paid people to research the external market to see what we can offer that will not only attract people here but make them happy. We must make them feel that they have not been fooled by slick marketing and that they have got what they were told they would get here.

Exchange rates have been favourable to us. People from Britain and America have been able to get very good value for their pounds and dollars. Niche tourism has also expanded greatly. Senator Farrell and other Senators referred to this issue earlier. People visit here for cultural reasons, to attend various summer schools, for river angling, etc. They can tailor their holiday to meet their own tastes. All this is good for tourism. We have not yet reached the full potential of niche tourism. We must continue to look for new areas to exploit and for new tourist attractions.

Recently I have witnessed a marked drop in the level of service in shops, restaurants and pubs. Senator Henry and I live in the same area in Dublin and frequently on Saturday mornings and during the weekend if one walks around our part of Dublin one can see an enormous presence of tourists from the United States, Italy and Britain. These are people who are spending short breaks here. I hope they do not get the same sort of service that I have experienced in some of the shops in central Dublin. In the US people are pleased to be part of the service industry and see nothing servile about this type of work. They view it as a job that has to be done in a professional manner. They carry out their work with a smile and in an efficient manner. The quality of service on offer in some of the premier outlets in Dublin leaves a lot to be desired. Is the reason for the decline in service due to the fact that people are not being attracted into this industry? Is management in these outlets providing proper training for their staff? If I were a tourist and I had two or three bad experiences in shops I would have a negative view of my holiday for the rest of my stay here. I would go away feeling sour about my holiday. Not so long ago the bad manners of Parisian shopkeepers and restaurateurs forced the French tourist industry to undertake a major campaign to teach them manners. They had to teach those people that they might fool a person once but that person will not make a return visit unless they have happy memories of their visit. I and many other people view this as a warning sign and one that we should pay attention to.

Senator Henry referred to the huge increase in the quality of food available to tourists and Irish people here. The food revolution has been one of the great success stories of modern Ireland. Senator Henry referred to Myrtle Allen but that type of success can be attributed to virtually every part of this country. Now there is a good restaurant in every town in Ireland, some of which are exceptional. Our restaurants are far better than those found in Great Britain. It is possible to eat better here than in Spain, France, Italy and many other countries. Chefs like Derry Clarke, Conrad Gallagher and others have brought great credit by raising standards and propagating high standards.

The standard of food available has improved everywhere. A few weeks ago I spoke at a seminar in Glencolmcille. Students from a local school prepared the food for the seminar and it was of a very high standard. I live beside a secondary school on Haddington Road where students are taught how to cook. If students are taught how to cook at secondary level and given a taste for proper cooking then perhaps some of them will go into the catering industry. Cookery is something we cannot close our eyes to.

Our meals and food are expensive. At present, there is a gap in the middle market. Tourists who have a fixed budget do not want to live on convenience food but want to get a taste of decent Irish food without paying a high price for it. I am sure the tourism industry is aware of this market.

Senator Farrell mentioned the effects of Northern Ireland on tourism. I agree with him that his part of the north-west has suffered but I hope that will change in the future. The Unionist community is another market in the North. I was at Lansdowne Road on the day the Ulster rugby team played in the final of the European Cup. On that occasion the stadium was awash with flags I would normally associate with loyalist groups in the North, the red hand of Ulster flag. It was a great day but afterwards I realised that it was the first time a large majority of those rugby supporters had visited Dublin. When I talked to people afterwards in my local pub, Smyth's of Haddington Road, they said that the Ulster people who entered the pub expected a hostile environment. They expected to be jostled. In fact they were astounded at the warmth of the welcome extended to them. I hope we can have more events like that. To Nationalists the South is fine but they have already been converted. We must attract Unionist people who will see at first hand what Carlow, Kilkenny, Sligo or Dublin have to offer. If we could do that we would be making great progress.

Senator Henry mentioned the large contribution Ryanair has made by providing cheap fares to people coming here. Before Ryanair was established here Aer Lingus objected and resented being viewed as part of the tourism industry. Aer Lingus viewed itself as an airline carrier that was going to make money. It did not see itself as having a national obligation to provide cheap access to this country. Ryanair has changed all that. Some time ago I criticised Ryanair but they got plenty of publicity out of it. Their public relations people were happy about my comment. Today I pay tribute to what they have done.

I commend the Minister on what he is doing and wish him well.

Acting Chairman (Dr. Henry)

I am sure sales in Smyth's of Haddington Road will soar now it is known Senator Manning frequents their premises.

Mr. Gibbons

The whole ambit of tourism has developed exceedingly well here over the past eight years but we are only beginning to realise the scope that exists. As Senator Manning said, in the past our tourism industry has been focused on a small number of centres. Now we are beginning to realise what tourists are looking for and that is one of the reasons I want to be parochial in my comments.

Ireland has some tourist treasures. The west of Ireland and along the west coast is a prime example. Kilkenny is one of the most thriving towns with regard to tourism. We must examine why that is the case and try to learn from it for the benefit of other areas of the country. In the early 1960s there were proposals before Kilkenny Corporation to build a soup factory on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle and to extend the car park into the front garden, the rose garden. Thankfully, the people in Kilkenny had the vision to see this was wrong. There may have been some arm twisting to bring about that decision. From that time on tourism has developed in Kilkenny. I pay tribute to the archaeological society in Kilkenny which had vision and promoted the development of Kilkenny as a medieval town.

If one walks through Kilkenny any day of the year, but particularly during the spring, summer and early autumn months, it is chock-a-block; thousands of people pass through. The real benefit is not just that Kilkenny is showing what it has to offer but that people are enjoying themselves. There are good restaurants. It is easy to walk around the city, there are many attractions within walking distance and the city is benefiting in financial terms. Money is coming into the city that would not do so otherwise. As a result there is extra money to invest in continuing the development of tourism.

On the other hand, my home town of Carlow, which does not have the same wealth of medieval buildings, has great difficulty in attracting tourists, although great efforts are being made by Carlow Regional Tourism, Carlow Rural Tourism, Carlow Chamber of Commerce and Carlow County Council to boost tourism because of the benefits that accrue. One of the problems in Carlow is that buses pass through on a daily basis to Kilkenny. People on Bord Fáilte tours from Dublin head to Kilkenny. When passing through Carlow the tour guides do not even mention that it has anything to offer. That is one of the problems in our approach to tourism.

There has been a tendency in Carlow to look at Kilkenny and to try to replicate what it has. It simply is not working because we cannot compete with the wealth which Kilkenny has to offer tourists. However, Carlow has the advantage from the point of view of developing tourism that few other towns have of lying on a navigable river, the Barrow. For too long the Barrow has been looked upon as somewhere to dump waste. Various factories which need water are situated on the river. It was a convenient place to locate factories in the past. Anyone who has an interest in boating and cruising will be aware if they go to the Shannon at this time of the year it is difficult to get around because of the number of boats. With the Barrow navigation one can travel the whole country, right into Northern Ireland, through the canals system. If it is developed it will benefit not only Carlow but counties Kilkenny, Wexford, Laois, and Kildare and the rest of the country because it links the network. We see the huge benefits of investment in the Ballinamore canal a number of years ago. At the time many people felt it was a waste of time investing in it but it was a visionary move.

People are looking for a different type of holiday when they come to Ireland. What Carlow needs to develop its tourist industry is a focus on the river. Carlow County Council and Carlow Rural Tourism are doing their utmost to get investment on to the river. It means a great many changes over an extended period. What is badly needed is a financial kick-start to get it off the ground until there is roll-over and benefits that accrue from visitors. The ratio of visitors to Kilkenny and Carlow, a half an hour divides the two towns of roughly the same population, is 6:1 or 7:1.

If Carlow is to use the river to its benefit it does not want the boats to pass through but to stop and sample what they want to see. Walking and cycling tours could be developed from the river. Fortunately, in Carlow there is a great wealth of small big houses, as they say. As Senator Manning is aware there are many period houses in Carlow within a short distance of Carlow town, Borris and Leighlinbridge. Tours could be developed to these houses. While a number of these houses are open to the public more could be opened. We need to encourage the residents in these houses to open their doors, if possible, to the public to let them experience the history of the area.

In Carlow one has the opportunity of looking at one of only four Romanesque doorways in the country. There is one in Cashel, which is well known, and one in Freshford, County Kilkenny, which is also well known, but there is an extremely good Romanesque doorway within a mile and a half of the River Barrow in Carlow that is not well known. These are the treasures that many visitors to Ireland want to see. We must expand our thinking on tourism.

County Carlow is also lucky in that it has the largest dolmen in Europe with a capstone which is, reputedly, in excess of 100 tonnes weight – I am not sure if it is that weight but it is certainly a very large capstone. That dolmen happens to lie in the middle of a farmer's field. A concerted approach is needed to open this up to the public. Visitors travelling on the road see the sign pointing in its direction but access to it is difficult. Carlow County Council and Carlow Chamber of Commerce are devising a package to submit to the Department shortly in an effort to kick start some of these ideas.

It is important to prime the whole operation with an investment to get it going because the town of Carlow and the surrounding areas will only develop, in tourism terms, if they get that investment. I look forward to the investment in the future.

Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation (Mr. Flood)

I thank Members who have made contributions in this important debate on tourism. From the different contributions, we have heard of the impact which tourism has had in Ireland in the past number of years.

In 1998, 5.7 million overseas visitors came to Ireland, an increase of 11 per cent on the previous year, and foreign earnings from tourism amounted to £2.3 billion. These figures demonstrate how tourism is rapidly on its way to becoming our biggest industry. If we can keep this momentum going by increasing our promotional efforts and maintaining our competitive advantages tourism will be worth a massive £4.5 billion to the economy in 2005.

In the meantime we must be attentive to cultivating our main markets. Britain, our largest tourist market, delivered 3.4 million visitors last year, an increase of 12 per cent. I was also pleased to see a healthy performance from the North American market which increased by 12 per cent. With increased transatlantic air capacity, in particular the new Aer Lingus gateway to the US west coast, I expect this market to exceed its targets this year.

While the economic environment throughout Europe in 1998 was mixed, overall tourist numbers grew by 7 per cent to reach a total of 1.3 million visitors. As the Minister reported in October, the difficulties experienced in some of the European markets, especially Germany, are being addressed. Provision has been made for a special effort to boost promotional activity in the continental market, particularly Germany and France, and the evidence is that the Exchequer is now doing more than ever to assist the tourism industry.

Provision has also been made for special international marketing with a specific regional emphasis, building on the initiatives undertaken last year. Funds totalling £3.22 million have been allocated for 1999 for regional activities which can encourage and promote the attractions of our lesser known regions. The 1999 tourism season is well under way and I am confident that Bord Fáilte and the industry will be working in the marketplace to achieve our 1999 growth targets of 7 per cent in visitor numbers and 9 per cent in total foreign earnings.

No one can deny the importance of the smaller tourism establishment, not only as a source of good value accommodation but as a tourism product in its own right and an integral and identifiable part of the Irish holiday experience. Earlier this year, the Minister, Deputy McDaid, announced a major new initiative in support of the smaller player in the tourism industry, such as small bed and breakfast houses, farmhouses and guesthouses. Under the direction of a senior Bord Fáilte executive, the current marketing of the various groups in this category will be analysed, the best future marketing strategy agreed with the representative bodies and a new marketing plan implemented. We hope that this initiative will result in a long-term, sustainable marketing plan for the smaller tourism accommodation providers being put in place.

Following our success in securing the Ryder Cup for 2005, it was announced last March that Ireland will host the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. In addition to proving that Ireland has the ability to stage a quality world class event, and the enthusiasm and commitment to make it a truly memorable occasion for everyone involved, the games will also provide us with an opportunity to demonstrate, on a truly gigantic scale, the breadth and depth of our Irish welcome.

I am sure no one would disagree that this year's St. Patrick's Festival was the most exciting ever. It was launched by the unique Skyfest which included the most spectacular fireworks display ever seen in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people witnessed the launch of our millennium celebrations in Dublin and many more on television at home and abroad. The whole festival and especially the parade has now developed into a major international festival.

Many Members will have read about the resignation of the chairman of the festival, Mr. Michael Colgan, who has served as chairman since 1995. I wish to express my admiration and thanks for the excellent results which Mr. Colgan, his board and the executive of the company have achieved in a short time. St. Patrick's Day has been truly transformed into an event of which we can justly be proud. The Minister, Deputy McDaid, will name a successor to Mr. Colgan in the near future.

Reference was made to the problem of staff shortages in the industry. There is no doubt that our success in attracting record numbers of tourists has generated so much expansion in the hotel and catering sector that the industry is outpacing our capacity to staff it. That is why we find, in Dublin and in other parts of the country, people from overseas serving in so many of our hotels and restaurants. I wish to make it clear that those young people from abroad are warmly welcome. They lend a cosmopolitan touch to the Irish scene and they are making a valuable contribution to the industry. I hope that what they have to say about Ireland in their letters home will enhance our reputation as a good country to visit.

However, it is vital to the future of tourism in this country that we succeed in attracting many more Irish people into the industry. Tourism surveys invariable show that the easy natural welcoming ways of the people constitute one of the country's main attractions. Senator Farrell made a strong comment on this important issue. Visitors want to meet and mix with the Irish and they like to be served by Irish people in our hotels, restaurants and shops.

CERT and the industry are working in tandem to address the shortages issue; new ideas and novel approaches are needed. For example, the focus for recruitment is now being targeted at the long-term unemployed, early school leavers, women wishing to return to the workforce and older age groups. A good example of this is a CERT pilot initiative for training unemployed people in Ballymun and Clondalkin. This £1 million special training programme was launched earlier this week by the Minister, Deputy McDaid. A total of 230 unemployed people will be trained and guaranteed jobs in quality hotels, restaurants and bars in and around Dublin. This is the type of imaginative programme that we need.

I also wish to refer to the introduction of the national minimum wage next April. While surveys show that most in the hotel and catering sector are already paying wages in excess of the national minimum wage, I have no doubt that its general introduction will help to improve the sector's overall image and attract more people to it.

Since his Seanad statement, the Minister, Deputy McDaid, and his officials have continued to make the strongest case possible for continued EU Structural Funding for tourism product development, marketing and training. The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation has been part of the planning process and the Minister stated that he sees the industry taking on a greater role in the future in the formulation of tourism policy and also in relation to its implementation and funding.

The Minister has opposed proposals for local bedroom taxes and levies which he considers would not be in the interest of local and regional development. They would lead to an unbalanced situation, and one must question where they would eventually lead. The proposal for a departure levy, which is common to almost all our EU partners, would help to meet the likely shortfall in the funding for marketing Ireland overseas which is crucial to our continued competitiveness. However, no final decision has been taken and the Minister, Deputy McDaid, hopes to discuss the future funding of tourism marketing with his colleagues in Government shortly.

The Irish and British Governments and all the parties in Northern Ireland have continued to work tirelessly over the past months to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement is fully implemented. As expected, this is proving to be a difficult task but there is, I believe, a determination on all sides to find a resolution to the current difficulties. Last December, the First and Deputy First Ministers designate identified international tourism marketing as an area for closer North-South co-operation. What is being proposed is an exciting venture where a limited company will be established with responsibility for marketing the island of Ireland overseas. The new company will be established following agreement on its memorandum and articles of association by the North-South Ministerial Council. Obviously, this must await the setting up of the executive in Northern Ireland. Work is continuing at official level in preparation for the establishment of the new company and the Minister, Deputy McDaid, and his departmental officials will spare no effort in ensuring that the new venture is a success.

I am pleased to tell the House that there has been significant and very welcome progress in relation to the national conference centre, to which the Government is fully committed. Since he last spoke to the Seanad about this project, the Minister, Deputy McDaid, has been able to record significant progress. Although there has been a degree of impatience expressed about the pace at which it has moved forward, and I understand some of this impatience, a project on this scale, linked as it is to a development of massive proportions, is bound to face delays of various types. For the Minister's part, I can say that the elements for which he has responsibility have been pushed on with maximum energy and commitment.

We are now at a point where a third party procedural complaint has been disposed of and European Commission sanction for the European Regional Development Fund grant secured. Also, last week, an application was made to the Commission on the Government's behalf for the necessary extension to the operational programme deadlines so that the 33 million ECU grant can be drawn down. The other major issues, the notification of the taxation regime and the planning process, are also moving ahead and I am confident that substantial further progress will be made over the coming months, bringing closer to realisation a project will help underpin our future success as a top-class tourist destination.

I wish to refer to a number of issues raised by the contributors to the debate. Since the A.D. Little review Bord Fáilte has striven to develop itself into a total marketing organisation. It will deliver more in partnership with the industry. This will lead to the development of quality campaigns, advertising, sales promotions, etc.

Public relations is a most important tool in a competitive market and Bord Fáilte must commit itself to PR to compete with the best. Members have spoken about Bord Fáilte holding parties, receptions, etc. and that is an integral part of the promotional process. I attended the Berlin holiday fair, which is the largest in the world, containing acres of exhibition space and featuring all our competitors. Significant commitment had been made to certain stands. We must be proud of our product, market it and carry the fight to the rest of the world, as we are doing through Bord Fáilte. That body is going through a process of change and, bearing in mind what Members have said, it will have the capacity to meet the challenges ahead.

Historic and cultural elements were mentioned by Senator Henry. This is a most important matter and I am happy to inform the House that the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands is a partner in the Overseas Tourism Marketing Initiative. The initiative will, therefore, give more emphasis to cultural tourism with which Members are concerned.

Access was mentioned by Senator Manning and it is extremely important. In highlighting the contribution of Ryanair he has pinpointed the issue – if access is cheap we can dramatically increase the numbers coming to Ireland. The liberalisation of the air travel industry has made a great impact on our ability to attract more visitors.

All these aspects of tourism, if delivered efficiently and effectively, make a contribution to the continued achievement of our targets for contributions to the Exchequer and increased tourist numbers. I thank all Members for their considered remarks on this subject. Speaking on behalf of the Department, this has been a valuable debate.

An Cathaoirleach

When is it proposed to sit again?

Mr. Farrell

At 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 16 June.

The Seanad adjourned at 12.15 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 16 June 1999.