Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2004
5 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on whether the €89 million net outflow of expenditure in the January to March 2004 travel period represents a worrying trend for the Irish tourism sector in view of the huge coverage given to Ireland by the EU Presidency; and the steps that are being taken to ensure that this outflow does not increase further. [19748/04]
Amharc ar fhreagra33 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on whether the April 2004 overseas travel figures from the Central Statistics Office suggest that a gap is widening between persons who are leaving Ireland to go abroad when compared with the relatively smaller increase in visitors to Ireland; and the remedy he will put in place to address the issue. [19746/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 33 together.
I refer Deputies Boyle and Cuffe to my earlier answer to Question No. 3, which addressed the same topic.
The Minister answered two questions. In his reply to my last question, he referred to the issue of public transport. I would like to go into this in more detail. When tourists arrive here is it not the case that many of them do not opt for car hire but depend on public transport to travel around the country? This applies not only to overseas tourists but to those of us who want to travel around Ireland and have to do so on public transport. The state of our public transport is a major factor. Will the Minister agree that investing in public transport is not only good for the country in terms of facilitating proper decentralisation as opposed to relocation, but it is also important for our tourism market?
Will the Minister stress to the Minister for Transport the importance of the need to get this right? If the Minister travels abroad to Italy or France, he will find state-of-the-art transport services. He could board a train and travel from A to B relatively quickly, on time and in comfort, yet in this country that is not possible. If one tries to have a meal on one of our trains, it is an awful experience. This is an area the Minister ought to examine if we are to attract growing numbers to this country. May I have a more detailed response from the Minister on this issue?
The replies to Deputy Gormley's interesting questions are more appropriate to the Minister for Transport. In general terms, the question of access to the regions is of immense importance, in particular if we are to see a greater degree of regionalisation of the tourism industry. In that context, improving the service, the rolling stock and rail links is of immense importance. We have seen benefits from the regional airports and their development is providing rich dividends to the regions. For example, developments at Knock, Galway, Kerry and other airports are proving to be extremely beneficial. However, about 350,000 cars are rented every year by visitors to this country. Therefore, the private car market should not be underestimated in any way. However, I take the Deputy's point that it is important we continue to improve public transport.
To some extent Question No. 10 is related to these questions. Ireland received considerable exposure, as indicated in Question No. 5, during our Presidency of the EU, but that does not seem to be having a positive impact on our tourism industry. What initiatives to address this did the Minister raise with his European counterparts during our Presidency? Is the Minister at liberty to inform us of what was discussed or to outline how our Presidency of the Union during the past six months benefited Irish tourism?
There is a detailed question, Question No. 10, on this matter which I think we will reach. It might be fairer and more expansive for the Deputy if we concentrated on this issue at that point.
Is the Deputy prepared to wait until we reach that question?
Yes, that is fair enough.
