2026-06-10

Tourism is one of Ireland's most important economic sectors. It supports 229,000 jobs, helps sustain 46,000 businesses and generates significant economic activity in every county. Few sectors have such a broad regional footprint with an estimated seven out of every ten jobs located outside of Dublin. Tourism supports employment and enterprise in our cities and towns along the Wild Atlantic Way, throughout Ireland's Ancient East, in our coastal communities and increasingly across the Hidden Heartlands and other emerging destinations. Tourism is therefore not only an important economic sector in its own right, but also a key driver of regional development, supporting local businesses, creating employment opportunities and helping communities to thrive. The sector continues to perform strongly. Ireland remains an attractive destination for international visitors while domestic tourism continues to play an important role. This success is built on the strong foundations of a high-quality tourism offering, resilient and innovative businesses, the work of our tourism agencies and the contribution of communities who welcome visitors to every part of Ireland. Government has an important role to play. The strength of Ireland’s tourism sector is no accident. It is underpinned by strong policy direction, strategic investment and a co-ordinated approach across the public and private sectors. Our role is to create the conditions for tourism to succeed by supporting competitiveness, enabling investment and working with industry, communities and our tourism agencies to ensure the sector continues to deliver economic growth, regional prosperity and community well-being into the future. My approach to the sector is set out in A New Era for Irish Tourism, launched in December 2025 as a key commitment under the programme for Government. The policy sets a clear, forward-looking framework for the development of the sector to 2031. It reflects tourism’s role as a key economic driver of growth, job creation and balanced regional development. Through A New Era for Irish Tourism, I have set a clear ambition to grow visitors and revenue and create sustainable careers. A key focus of the policy is extending tourism beyond the traditional peak season, supporting more year-round activity and more sustainable employment in local communities. We want tourism to thrive, not just in our cities or traditional hot spots, but in every county, town and community. I want to grow total tourism revenue to €14.8 billion. That means boosting overseas revenue by 50% to €9 billion by 2031 and domestic revenue to €5.8 billion, increasing visitor numbers by at least 7% annually in less mature regions, shifting growth towards the off-peak season and providing employment for at least 250,000 people in quality sustainable jobs. These are ambitious goals, but I am confident they will be achievable through strong partnership and co-ordinated delivery. Delivering on these ambitions requires more than a clear vision. It requires effective implementation, strong collaboration and a sustained focus on outcomes. That is why I am establishing a robust governance framework to oversee the delivery of A New Era for Irish Tourism. I will chair the tourism policy oversight group, which will meet for the first time next month. This group will bring together Government agencies, local authorities and key industry stakeholders to maintain a clear focus on implementation and progress. Supporting this work will be a number of targeted delivery streams focused on key priorities, including culinary tourism, sustainability, market development, robust data and insights, and unlocking the potential of key State assets. The purpose of these structures is to ensure alignment, consistency of approach and effective collaboration across Government agencies, local authorities, industry and other stakeholders that have a role to play in the future development of Irish tourism. Supporting tourism growth requires sustained and targeted investment. Earlier this year, Government committed €400 million for tourism development and promotion through my Department’s sectoral capital plan. My Department is working through Fáilte Ireland, and continuing to invest in the infrastructure, attractions and visitor experiences that underpin the sector and drive demand across all regions. This investment is delivering tangible results. A key example is the €12.6 million redevelopment of Galway City Museum. This flagship funding, provided by Fáilte Ireland in partnership with Galway City Council, contributes to a broader project value of €19.3 million. Upon completion, the redevelopment is expected to attract an additional 820,000 domestic and overseas visitors over a ten-year period and generate an estimated €47.3 million in direct visitor spending for local and regional tourism economies. Investment is also helping communities in regions undergoing economic transition. Through the EU Just Transition Fund, Fáilte Ireland is delivering a number of transformative tourism projects across the midlands. These projects are supporting regeneration of communities previously reliant on peat extraction, creating new visitor experiences, strengthening local economies and helping to position the region as a destination for sustainable tourism. They demonstrate that tourism can support economic diversification while also contributing to wider environmental and climate objectives. We are now progressing a new capital investment plan through Fáilte Ireland, in which I will set out a clear direction for future funding and ensure that investment is aligned with objectives set out in A New Era for Irish Tourism. This will ensure that as the sector evolves our tourism offering continues to improve, supporting regional growth, strengthening competitiveness and delivering for communities across the country. I have a laser focus on balanced development, ensuring that less mature tourism markets in places like the midlands get the support and investment they need. We are already seeing encouraging evidence that a targeted approach is working. The latest figures for 2026 from the Central Statistics Office show encouraging signs that Ireland's tourism sector continues to perform strongly, with growth across all key indicators - visitor numbers, expenditure and length of stay. This is a clear reflection of both the strength of our offering and the effectiveness of our strategy. In April 2026, overseas visitors spent €431 million in Ireland, while visitor expenditure in the first four months of the year exceeded €1.3 billion. Visitors also spent almost 3.9 million nights in the country during April. Those figures highlight the significant contribution tourism continues to make to businesses, communities and local economies across our country. The data also points to the value of maintaining a diverse visitor base. Great Britain remained our strongest local source market by visitor numbers, while continental Europe and North America continue to make a substantial contribution to tourism expenditure. This diversity is one of the sector’s key strengths. It helps reduce exposure to economic or geopolitical shocks in any single market and supports a more resilient tourism sector overall. That is why market diversification is a central element of my Department’s policy. Through the market diversification plan, Tourism Ireland and other key stakeholders are working to broaden Ireland's reach, strengthen our presence across a range of priority markets and ensure we remain well-positioned in an increasingly competitive international environment. This strategic approach is being backed by targeted investment. In budget 2026, €7.5 million was secured to support market diversification initiatives and expand opportunities in both established and emerging markets. This complements other measures, including the strategic air access fund, which plays an important role in supporting connectivity and helping Ireland compete effectively for international visitors. Strong connectivity continues to underpin tourism performance. Winter 2025-26 saw significant growth in inbound capacity, with air seat capacity increasing by 15% year on year. Sea access also strengthened, with ferry capacity growing significantly. Looking ahead to summer 2026, capacity is expected to remain positive, with overall air access projected to increase by approximately 3%. Tourism Ireland continues to promote the island intensively in overseas markets. Its 2026 programme spans over 15 key markets and focuses on attracting visitors with both the intent and means to travel. Its strategy includes sustaining strong demand in the United States and Great Britain, while growing tourism from mainland Europe and investing in high-potential markets such as Canada. It also includes building long-term partnerships in emerging markets such as India and China. Campaigns such as Ireland Goes Beyond and Ireland Unrushed showcase the depth and quality of Ireland’s tourism offering and encourage visitors to explore more of the country. These campaigns are supported by strong partnerships with airlines and travel operators, ensuring effective reach and impact. Earlier this year, we announced a new direct flight from Dublin to Shanghai with the now active strategic air access fund matching direct flights with resources and boots on the ground to market this new connectivity. Ireland is well-positioned as a welcoming, stable and high-quality destination, but we cannot be complacent. I am conscious that the global environment remains uncertain. Geopolitical developments, particularly in the Middle East, are impacting global aviation markets with rising fuel costs and capacity adjustments creating volatility. l am monitoring these developments closely and will continue to prioritise connectivity, ensuring that Ireland, as a destination, remains accessible and competitive to international markets. The strength of our policy approach is that it recognises this as a reality. As the sector evolves in response to these global challenges, A New Era for Irish Tourism is guiding our approach by strengthening existing markets while creating new opportunities for growth. Through targeted investment, market diversification and strategic supports, we are helping to create the flexibility the tourism sector needs to respond quickly to changing circumstances and to seize new opportunities as they emerge. Domestic tourism underpins the sector and continues to play a critical role in driving sustainable year-round growth across all regions. Strengthening this domestic base remains a key priority, particularly in the context of global uncertainty. It supports businesses, sustains employment and ensures that tourism activity is distributed across the country, particularly in less mature destinations where tourism acts as a vital driver of local economic development. Fáilte Ireland is central to turning our policy ambitions into action through the development of visitor experiences, support for businesses, strategic investment and regional tourism development. On the domestic marketing front, we are taking clear and targeted action. In March 2026, Fáilte Ireland launched a national campaign, Find Yourself on a Short Break, which is designed to stimulate that domestic demand and encourage more frequent short breaks across the country. Delivered through a mix of advertising, digital engagement and partnerships, the campaign highlights the breadth and diversity of experiences available across Ireland. It places a strong emphasis on encouraging short breaks and regional travel, promoting off-season tourism and showcasing well-being and experiential offerings. Another strong driver of both international and domestic demand are initiatives like festivals. Festivals are known to play a vital role in driving tourism across our regions. From large-scale international events to smaller local festivals, they bring visitors into communities, support local businesses and contribute to the vibrancy of our towns and villages. During 2026, over €600,000 is being provided to 31 local authorities through the regional festivals fund. Administered by Fáilte Ireland, this fund will support approximately 250 festivals nationwide. In addition, a further €310,000 has been made available to local authorities specifically to support food festivals, strengthening Ireland's growing culinary tourism offering. These campaigns and investments are fully aligned with A New Era for Irish Tourism and support the development of a stronger year-round tourism offering and, simultaneously, a more strategic approach to our food and drink sector. Work is under way in Fáilte Ireland on progressing our new culinary tourism strategy, which will showcase the strength of Ireland's food heritage and create new opportunities for regional and year-round tourism. From local producers to world-class chefs, distilleries and local artisans, our food offering is a powerful driver of visitor experience and regional development and we are committed to ensuring it plays a central role in how Ireland is positioned internationally. The culinary delivery stream under my tourism policy oversight group will ensure there is a coherent approach to how we continue to deliver on what will be an exciting and prosperous opportunity for tourism. Looking across the broader tourism sector, we are supporting businesses on the ground. I am very conscious of the cost pressures facing businesses across the tourism and hospitality sector. As part of our response, the Government has taken targeted action to support the sector, including through reducing the VAT rate for hospitality to 9%, which will take effect next month. This is a practical step to strengthen competitiveness, protect jobs and ensure that as the sector continues to grow it can deliver sustainable benefits for communities across every region of the country. We need to protect local employment. Tourism offers rewarding and diverse careers across hospitality, culinary arts, outdoor recreation, transport, events, visitor attractions and destination management. As the sector continues to evolve, so too will the skills required to succeed within it. The future success of tourism greatly depends on our ability to attract, retain and develop talent particularly in these businesses. Earlier analysis by the expert group on future skills needs identified the importance of addressing skills needs in the hospitality sector, a priority that continues to be reflected in more recent workforce and training initiatives. Through continued collaboration between Government, industry, agencies and education partners, we must ensure that the workforce of the future is equipped with the skills needed to succeed in an increasingly innovative, digital and competitive tourism sector. Fáilte Ireland is investing in the people at the heart of the sector through a strong focus on workforce and skills. The employer excellence programme supports businesses to strengthen HR capability, leadership and staff retention, while a national online learning platform provides accessible training across key business areas. At the same time, targeted workforce initiatives, including student placements and employer supports, are helping to build a stronger talent pipeline. Alongside investing in people, we must also ensure that the wider conditions supporting sustainable growth are in place. We know that access to accommodation can be a factor for those considering employment in the sector, particularly in areas of strong tourism demand. More broadly, it highlights the importance of a balanced and co-ordinated approach across Government policy, ensuring that tourism development sits alongside wider housing and community needs. The introduction of regulatory controls for the short-term letting sector is intended to ensure that tourism develops in a way that recognises and complements the wider needs of local communities, both economically and socially. The introduction of a national register for short-term letting from December 2026 will bring greater transparency to the sector and support a more balanced approach to its future development. Fáilte Ireland will have responsibility for implementing and managing this register in line with the relevant legislative framework and EU requirements. Work is progressing on a new tourist accommodation strategy and I was encouraged by the strong engagement in the recent public consultation process, reflecting the importance of this issue for communities and businesses across the country. As committed to in A New Era for Irish Tourism, the resulting strategy will complement existing legislative and regulatory frameworks and align with wider national policies supporting the continued development of sustainable tourism across all counties. Tourism is a corner-stone of our economy and a key driver of growth across Ireland. The sector is performing strongly, supported by clear policy, targeted investment and effective delivery. We remain focused on sustaining that growth, addressing challenges and ensuring that tourism continues to deliver for communities across the country. I am confident that through the delivery of A New Era for Irish Tourism and the broad range of measures I have outlined, we can continue to realise our ambitions and ensure that tourism continues to grow and thrive in every region of Ireland.

For counties such as Mayo, tourism is a critical economic driver. The Wild Atlantic Way has helped to showcase the extraordinary beauty of our coastline, our islands, our heritage and our communities. Yet, despite the success of these attraction, there remains significant untapped potential that requires sustained investment and support from Government. I am glad to hear the Minister talk about the oversight group and that the local authorities are part of it because it is often the case that the necessary joined-up thinking is not seen and we do not get the basics right. Keem Bay beach in Achill was named one of the best beaches in the world. That is really significant. There is an opportunity to establish a visitor centre to keep people in the area and to provide a better experience for them. It is very important that opportunity is taken. If we are to be serious about growing tourism, we must be serious about the connectivity and infrastructure that is needed to maximise the outcomes from the money that is invested in tourism, including money invested in advertising abroad to attract people here. Tourism cannot thrive if visitors cannot easily reach destinations, move between regions and access attractions. Too often, the Government speaks about promoting tourism while failing to invest adequately in the transport networks and public infrastructure that underpin the sector. This is especially true in the west and north west. We cannot expect regions like Mayo to realise their full tourism potential when transport links remain inadequate and investment lags behind demand. Visitors expect and need a seamless travel experience. They want reliable rail connections, accessible bus services, safe roads, quality walking and cycling infrastructure and straightforward information about how to get from one destination to another. However, many still encounter fragmented transport services, poor integration between providers and limited public transport options outside of our main cities. It goes without saying that we need stronger links between airports and ports and towns in tourism destinations. I will give the Minister an example. Ireland West Airport, Knock, recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. I wanted to get from Castlebar to Knock to get a flight from Knock Airport. I wanted to use public transport. Just trying to find out about the bus service that connects Castlebar to Knock proved to be an onerous task in trying to do that. I went to the bus stop to see what was displayed there. There was nothing whatsoever displayed on the bus stop in Castlebar. It is the small things like that which need to be addressed to ensure people avail of the services that are even there. I commend all the bus drivers. It was quite an experience. Getting on the bus to Knock, I saw that I could not tap my card. It does not take a card; you have to have cash. If you do not have cash, what do you do in that situation? Besides the security issues that arise for drivers who have to provide their own floats, that is not good enough in 2026. When we talk about overarching and high-level stuff, we need to get the lower-level stuff right. That is the point that I want the Minister to go away with today. We need the stronger links. We need to get the basics right in tourism. We need transport providers that communicate with each other and provide integrated information and ticketing timetables. We need improved connectivity. It is not simply a tourism issue; it is a regional development issue as well. When we match up regional development with tourism, that is how we are going to get our maximum outcomes for what is needed. As a party Sinn Féin understands that tourism policy and regional development policy go hand in hand. Better transport links help attract visitors, support local businesses, create employment opportunities and make rural communities more sustainable places to live and work in. These communities that welcome visitors must receive the infrastructure and services necessary to support increased tourism activity, such as public toilets, parking facilities and broadband connectivity. So many local community groups are doing really good work in developing tourist attractions and walkways, for example. They have to beg and beg for public toilets to be put on the local beach and to be supported in that way. That is not right. These things should become more automatic that those services are there. There is little value in encouraging visitors to travel to rural Ireland if we fail to provide the infrastructure needed to support them once they arrive. It is obvious to us in Sinn Féin that the future success of Irish tourism requires a stronger all-island approach. Tourism Ireland was established as one of the formal areas of cross-Border co-operation under the Good Friday Agreement because it offers enormous potential to international visitors. International visitors do not see the island as two separate tourism destinations. They see Ireland as a single destination. Our tourism strategy should reflect that reality. Major tourism initiatives like the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East and Ireland's Hidden Heartlands should be developed further on an all-island basis. Expanding and connecting these initiatives across the island would create a more seamless experience for visitors, encourage longer stays and increase spending in local economies, North and South. Again, an all-island tourism strategy must be matched by all-island connectivity. An unfortunate consequence of Brexit saw the British Government introduce the electronic travel authorisation requirement for international visitors. This has made additional barriers for tourists travelling between the North and South. It is something that has to be dealt with once and for all.

Tourism is one of Ireland's most important industries. We all know that it supports jobs, sustains local businesses and brings investment to local communities across the country. The beauty about tourism is that it goes right deep into some of our most rural and most hinterland parts of our island. If we are really serious about developing tourism, we must also be serious about addressing regional inequalities that continue to hold areas back. I come from Donegal. I can say hand on heart that it is the most beautiful and scenic place in the country. It is blessed with spectacular scenery that you would not see anywhere in Europe, although I am very biased in that regard. It has got that tradition and is rich in culture, our language, our heritage, our islands and all that it offers. However, the problem is that if we are being serious, there are serious infrastructural issues in relation to Donegal. The north west is not serviced by motorway. It is not serviced by rail links. It has serious issues in relation to its public transport infrastructure, which is supplemented by a number of private operators that have operated excellently for many years. There is also basic infrastructure. I come from Gweedore, for example. There are hotel developments that are being stalled and held up because we do not have a sewerage scheme that been promised time and time again from the Government. We also have tourist attractions that need just that little bit of investment, particularly our islands, which have seen a huge explosion of tourism over the past while, but can be further developed in a more sustainable way. I wish to raise the issue in relation to Glenveagh National Park, which is a jewel in the crown in the north west. The issue here is that time and time again we see people come to Glenveagh National Park, they travel long distances to visit for the day and find that tours are not available depending on the day that they arrive. This should not be happening in a national park which is open seven days a week. Tours should be available at all times. It is basic investment that needs to be there. There were issues in the past where people could not get car parking and had to travel two hours back. Some of those issues are being addressed. Tourism takes many different forms. There are types of investment that are required to sustain, support and supplement what we have. I have described Donegal as a number of pearls that we have across the county from different locations and different events. What is missing there is the necklace that ties them all together. In a way, the Wild Atlantic Way is a form of that type of necklace. When we are missing a pearl or two, the necklace does not look the way it should. When we make sure that all of the pearls are joined up, it is something that is attractive and can encourage more tours, operators and people from overseas to come here. One of the issues that I have raised in the past has been the issue of the entertainment sector and it being able to attract tourism into regions across the State. I have raised the issue of the fact that we have seen music festivals close down over the last number of years and the need to support music festivals, in particular. I have skin in the game in this as I am a director and chairperson of our not-for-profit music festival in Donegal. I am not speaking about our own festival. The Minister will be aware of the liquidation of tickets.ie recently. This has caused major problems. We have not-for-profit music festivals that operate in my county of Donegal, such as the Rory Gallagher International Festival. It is an outstanding festival that has operated for many years that was a client of this company. We are now seeing them out hundreds of thousands of euro. This cannot stand. This company that is going into liquidation is 75% owned by the DEAG Entertainment Group in Berlin. We need to be looking all the avenues. That means our foreign affairs Minister, our EU Commissioner and the German ambassador here need to be called in. There are serious issues that do not just affect the Rory Gallagher International Festival; it also affects other private festivals in the State. There also may be an issue where the Government intervenes. There is a question now that we need to look at whether we want to make sure these festivals continue next year. If they do, the money has to be paid, or the State will have to support them in some way to make sure that they continue.

Tourism is such an important part of the Irish economy. It is such an important industry. More needs to be done to develop it, especially in my own city of Cork. In 1916, Thomas Kent's home was raided and his brother was seriously injured. He and his brothers were taken away. Thomas Kent was convicted and found guilty by the British. He was later shot in the grounds of the old Cork prison in the Glen. That was on 9 May 1916. He was the only person from Cork to be shot and executed as part of the 1916 Rising. For 99 years, his body was buried in that prison's grounds. That should be a historic centre. It is not just Thomas Kent was executed on that site; he was also imprisoned there. This is a building that should now be used not just for the community but for tourism. There is the likes of Ardmhéara Tomás MacCurtain who was shot in his bed by the British and the Irish Royal Constabulary, IRC. There was Terence MacSwiney who died on hunger strike in Brixton Prison. There were the Wallace sisters, the Delaney brothers and Ballycannon boys. It goes on and on. The republican history in Cork is immense but we have nowhere for people to go to learn about it. A number of months ago I met a family who had returned from America, one of whom was the granddaughter of a volunteer who had brought back the medal he got for fighting for Irish independence. Members of the Irish diaspora, no matter where they are in the world and no matter where they have migrated to, have stories about home. When they come back here to visit they want to go to a diaspora centre. A huge number of people left for the four corners of the world from Cork Harbour but when they come back, there is nowhere for them to go to trace their heritage or learn about the proud republican history that we have. What I want to see is investment in Cork. There is an independent councillor in Cork, Kieran McCarthy, who runs walking tours around the city. There is brilliant take-up but we need much more of that. We need the buy-in. There is huge interest in historical tourism. People want to find out what is really behind the Irish. Whether it is our republican history, the arts or our authors, we have a product here. A lot of it is in Dublin and it is great to see but I am looking for investment in Cork. We have Shandon Tower and I am looking for investment in that area and in Cork more generally. We have one of the most iconic buildings in Shandon but it is not being utilised to the maximum. We have the Butter Museum. Butter was brought from all over Munster, but especially from Kerry and Cork, to the butter market in Cork when the British ruled us, and it was sent from there to the four corners of the world. From an agricultural and historical point of view, Shandon should be utilised more. However, I am not impressed with the way this Government has acted around Moore Street, the GPO and the two new prisons that are going into the old prison site. It is time to stand up for our heritage. Let us be proud that we are Irish republicans. Let us be proud of the fight for Irish freedom and let the world know about it.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on tourism today. I also welcome the information the Minister has provided on the plans in this space and the development that he is pursuing. The points that I want to make do not take away from any of that. I acknowledge the work that is being done but I have some concerns and I am sharing them today in the hope of being helpful to the Minister in the development of what he calls sustainable tourism. The point is that sustainable tourism has to be more than just a phrase. It has to be thought through. I also want to correct Deputy Doherty because it is actually Kerry that is the loveliest county in Ireland. Donegal is a close second and I am spending my holidays there this summer. The key point I want to make around sustainability and the vision for tourism is that tourism is supposed to serve the community, not the other way around, but many communities up and down this country have seen that balance reversed, unfortunately. There is a growing awareness of this issue globally as well. In the effort to make ourselves palatable and commercialised for tourists, we risk losing the culture and society which brought the tourists here in the first place. I also want to talk about the fact that tourism is a key sector of our economy but it is also where we see some of the poorest quality employment, sadly. I will start on the over-tourism point. As I said, tourism is supposed to serve our communities and not the other way around, but up and down the country, that balance has been reversed. Over-tourism is a serious problem that is already having an impact on people and communities across Ireland. Nobody is denying that tourism is important to a lot of people in this country. For many, particularly in areas along the west coast, it is either their livelihood or the livelihood of others in their community. On our islands and across many communities, the tourism income they take in each summer is the difference between continuing to exist as a community and not. However, these communities are also seeing the amount of money returned to them decrease, year on year, as big companies take more control in the sector, with tourism becoming a burden on community infrastructure instead of a boon for the people. We have seen in Spain and other countries the impact it can have if the approach to tourism is not properly planned and balanced. We do not need to look abroad to see this, however. If one goes to west Cork or Connemara, one will see holiday homes sitting empty or on Airbnb, while young people in the same community cannot afford to buy a house and start a family. One will see hordes of chain tourist shops selling the same gimmicky image of what Ireland is, while local small businesses and artisans cannot afford the premises costs and are priced out by cheap goods made overseas. We need a system that takes into account the housing, infrastructural and community needs of areas around the country when we develop tourism. We also need to ensure that when these communities generate countless euros for the Irish economy, they see a dividend for that instead of being further eroded as communities. Ba chóir go mbeidh bua eacnamaíoch na turasóireachta ag dul chuig an bpobal féin. Má tá turasóireacht ag cur brú ar an bpobal, caithfimid a chinntiú go bhfuilimid ag tabhairt cothrom na Féinne do na pobail sin. In the effort to make ourselves palatable and commercialised for tourists, we risk losing the culture and society which brought them here in the first place. I want to raise issues that were highlighted recently by the arts festival organiser, Naoise Nunn, with the strategic tourism festival investment scheme, where Kilkenny Animated is seeing a 75% cut in funding over three years. Arts-led festival organisers are highlighting that they appear to be losing out in favour of more commercially-led tourism events, despite the fact that arts-led festivals like this are exactly the things that draw people to Ireland as tourists. They come here to experience our culture and society but if we do not acknowledge that in support schemes for tourism initiatives, these festivals will be smaller and less engaging, and will eventually disappear altogether, one by one. This does not just impact the festival themselves, but the hotels people stay in, the restaurants they eat in and the businesses they go to. They represent huge value to the Irish economy, as the Minister acknowledged, particularly to indigenous Irish businesses. We need to ensure the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and Fáilte Ireland in particular, view the support of these initiatives and festivals as part of their remit. We cannot leave this solely to a very underfunded Arts Council, particularly when these festivals clearly support and are a part of regional tourism. I have been having a lot of conversations with people in this space and there is frustration about falling between stools in different Departments. The success of our festivals in drawing in tourists cannot be underestimated. We need to deal urgently with the issues that are leaving them caught in a policy gap between Departments. Finally, I want to raise the issue of the jobs supported by tourism. Tourism is a key sector of our economy but it is also where we see the poorest quality employment. Dr. Deirdre Curran in the University of Galway recently published a report on the experiences of hospitality workers in this country, the vast majority of whom work in workplaces where tourists are a key part of the customer base. The findings were stark, but not really surprising, given what we already know about pay and conditions in this sector. Around 52% of workers surveyed did not get the breaks to which they were entitled, just under half did not get a written employment contract and one in five said they did not get their holiday pay. There were tales of physical, verbal, and psychological abuse faced by these workers. It is also important to flag, however, that many of these people love the work they do. They carry it out with pride. They are proud to provide good service to their customers and are a key part of what makes Ireland the country of céad mile fáilte. We want to see a strong, resilient tourism industry but we will not be able to manage that if we do not tackle these issues. We must tackle staff turnover and invest in quality jobs in tourism. We urgently need to tackle low pay, ensure enforcement of employment law, and address the poor conditions faced by so many workers who are absolutely vital to Ireland's tourism industry and who love their jobs but who are being badly let down by the current practices this report has exposed. Teastaíonn uaillmhian uainn san earnáil turasóireachta. Teastaíonn fís uainn do ghnólachtaí, féilte agus poist san earnáil seo a thacaíonn leis an bpobal, lenár sochaí agus lenár gcultúr, ní hamháin ó thaobh airgid de, ach ó thaobh dea-thionchar ar na gnéithe sin. We need a vision for tourism in Ireland that celebrates our culture and our communities and that benefits everyone, from the minimum wage worker in a hotel to the young family living on the Aran Islands. We can have it but only if we are serious about reforming our attitudes and policy to look beyond just money spent to where and how that money is spent and who, ultimately, benefits.

Dublin 8 is a magnificent place of history. It is where I live. I am very proud to live there and am extremely proud to represent the area. There are so many places in Dublin 8 that tourists come to visit, including St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christchurch, Kilmainham Gaol, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, IMMA, the Guinness Storehouse, Dublinia, Marsh's Library, the Liberties and the National War Memorial Gardens. I could go on because there are loads of them. We are really lucky but not every part of the history of the Liberties has been preserved. These include places like Kilmainham Mill which is centuries old. It was brought to a certain standard but it has not been completed. People can go and look at it but it is not functional. I happen to know the person who is a descendant of the people who owned that mill. It is a crying shame. That is not the only place where there is a difficulty. Newmarket was a thriving market for years. A requirement, as part of the planning permission for one of the buildings in the regeneration or redesign of the area, was that a market be provided in that space. The applicant agreed to that and said anyone can use Newmarket as a market space for €67,000 per year. That is totally unacceptable. I want to know what will be done to make sure a market returns to Newmarket. I have been asking that question of the Department for a very long time and I have been given the wrong answer. I am still asking for an answer to that question. I would really appreciate if the Minister brought it back to the Department. The Iveagh Market lay derelict and in bits for decades. It has been brought back up to a certain standard that meets health and safety requirements. What is going to happen with it afterwards? Can we not be like other European countries, or even like Cork? I went down to the English Market recently. We need that in Dublin. It is such a magnificent thing to have, not only for tourists but for the people who live there. The Liberties is renowned for weaving. The Liberties Weavers were born from that whole tradition of weavers we have in our community. The group meets but it does not have a permanent place. We certainly have enough spaces to be able to provide for those people who are doing amazing work. It is fantastic. The Tivoli Theatre was torn down. Anyone who went to the panto at Christmas or to any of the many different events in the Tivoli will sadly miss it. That space is now about as undramatic and uninspiring as a place can be. It is absolutely disastrous. It is an affront to people like me who live in the area, and to the people who came to the area to go to the theatre, to see what has been left in its place. Some of the places I have mentioned are in Dublin Bay South and I do not want to rob anybody from Dublin Bay South of their places but in Dublin South-Central, in a very short time, we have seen many more hotels being built, more short-term lets and more student accommodation. We do not need more hotels in Dublin 8, we do not need more short-term lets and we definitely do not need more student accommodation. We need to have a city where people who live there are the ones who are able to enjoy markets, venues, theatre, going out and being with our neighbours. It is not all just about tourists; it is also for the people who live here.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on tourism. Tourism is worth almost €9 billion a year to our national economy. It supports jobs in every county, town and community across this country. Last year, almost 6.5 million visitors from overseas came to Ireland, spending an estimated €5.5 billion. We should, however, be honest about the trend. Visitor numbers in 2025 were down 3% and spend was down 9%. Cost is a factor and access is a factor. We cannot take this sector for granted. In my constituency of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, tourism generates an estimated €126 million a year, according to the council's tourism strategy. It supports more than 3,000 jobs locally. At the centre of it is Dún Laoghaire Harbour, a great regional amenity. Last year, more than 80 cruise ships called to the harbour. More than four in ten of those passengers spent time in the town itself. That is footfall through our local shops, cafés and restaurants from April right through to September. The town has invested in itself. The DLR Lexicon, for example, is now the most visited public library in Ireland, welcoming around 1,300 people a day. The restored Dún Laoghaire baths facility has been brought back to life and has brought life to the seafront as well. Our visitors' offering is real and distinctive, with the east pier, the Forty Foot and the James Joyce Tower. Interestingly, next week is Bloomsday and I commend entrepreneurs like Peter Caviston and volunteers like Margaret Brown on all the work they have done keeping that event going over the decades. We also have the National Maritime Museum of Ireland in the Mariners' Church. The People's Park at weekends has a market. There is the Dalkey Castle and Heritage Centre, and Killiney Hill. All are great and fantastic amenities. Then there are the businesses that anchor the town. There is the Royal Marine Hotel, which has stood over the harbour since 1828. Teddy's ice-cream is known to generations of Dubliners. The Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel overlooks Dublin Bay. Our wonderful pubs, restaurants and cafés, with their fantastic employees, make every visit to Dún Laoghaire very special. What do the businesses need from the Government? There are three things, in my view. The first is support without over-regulation. There are small businesses but every new form, levy and inspection regime lands on the same kitchen table. Yes to sensible regulation but no to micro-regulation. The second is the night-time economy. The night-time economy task force reported back in 2021. Towns like Dún Laoghaire would benefit directly. A visitor who stays overnight spends twice as much. I ask the Minister and his officials to set out a clear timeframe for implementing those reforms in full, including the modernisation of our licensing laws. That straddles not only the Minister's Department but the Department of justice as well. As for the third, in budget 2026 the Government listened to the tourism sector. In the most recent budget the reduction in hospitality VAT to 9%, which the Minister referred to, was a significant, welcome and necessary intervention. That support must now be matched with practical measures in budget 2027, including targeted help with energy, employer and insurance costs, and marketing investment through Tourism Ireland on an all-island basis to win back European visitors. I mention Tourism Ireland and investing on an all-island basis as I am the Chair of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. The investment by the shared island fund in the likes of the Ulster Canal and the Narrow Water bridge project is going to bring huge investment and opportunities to that whole region, which is very welcome. However, at times the local councils' tourism strategies jar or do not necessarily link in with the overall national picture. I am sure this is a frustration to the Minister as well as to local officials. It is important that we try to link in as much as possible on a regional basis the benefit of those local tourism strategies. I ask that we keep backing the tourism sector, implement the night-time economy reforms, hold the line against unnecessary red tape and deliver practical supports for tourism businesses in budget 2027.

The Minister is very welcome. As he probably knows, I have been the chairperson of Longford Tourism for 12 or 13 years. When I started, County Longford probably had the lowest visitor figures in the country. We grasped that negative and we worked with the local authority and stakeholders to build the tourism product in our county. Last Christmas, we launched a new tourism network to drive the future of tourism in Longford. Our statement at the launch noted the following: Longford’s rich and often untold story forms the backbone of this vision, from ancient archaeological sites dating back to before the Egyptian pyramids, to revolutionary history, Celtic mythology, literary heritage and iconic love stories, all set within an unspoilt and undiscovered landscape. That is what we are. We are unspoilt and undiscovered. We have been working very closely with Visit Westmeath where we were picked for one of the seven sites for the Home of Hallowe'en, which was a fantastic first year. We are looking forward to this continuing to be a successful festival. Longford is an unspoilt county. We have fantastic waterways, walkways and forest walks. We pride ourselves on the unspoilt beauty that we have and we want people to see that. On Monday next, the Minister will be at the launch the new visitlongford.ie website, which is being worked on and is funded by the just transition fund. That fund had been transformational for our county by bringing in significant investment on the back of what was a negative story. The roles of the activation officers who were appointed to the various counties in the just transition area will finish at the end of this year. I ask that they continue for the just transition areas, which have suffered economically as a result of the shutdown of the power plants and the reduction in peat production. We should continue those roles. We need them because we have grown the product and the businesses in our region and we need that support for those businesses to make sure they are maintained in future. I compliment our tourism officer, Denise Canavan, who is doing fantastic work since she took over the role, increasing the numbers of people, improving the product and working with all the communities in our county. The Minister of State knows Longford very well, from the Maria Edgeworth Centre in Edgeworthstown and the Knights and Conquests Heritage Centre in Granard. I look forward to seeing the sod turned on the Norman heritage village on that site in 2026. We have the fantastic Corlea trackway and its unspoiled beauty. It is undiscovered. That is the word I used earlier. I want to see further investment in that site. It goes back to 3,000 BC. It needs more investment to make sure more people come to see it. I ask that it be prioritised and we see significant investment in that project. The Royal Canal project started in Longford, with the length from Cloondara out to the main line, and back into Longford town. It cost €300,000. In conjunction with Longford County Council, a group of seven of us on the committee secured LEADER funding and started that project with an 18 km section. We worked with other local authorities in counties Westmeath, Meath, Kildare and Dublin and shortly that project will now come in as far as Spencer Dock. People will be able to walk from Spencer Dock here in Dublin all the way down to the Shannon in Cloondara, and ultimately link up across the bogs into the west of Ireland out to Strokestown Park House. It is a fantastic project. The State has made significant investment in it and it is important to acknowledge the huge amount of funding that has been provided to make it a fantastic project. It will bring a further increase in tourism into our county. I ask that the Government take away those issues. We are working hard on the ground with industry. We have all the stakeholders together. We just need support. We were delivering product through the just transition fund. I ask that support from that fund be continued, particularly through the tourism activator roles. Colm Croffey has had that role in Longford but they are in place throughout the region. We did not have support for a long number of years until the Hidden Heartlands brand was launched some years ago by people in the region, including me. The counties wanted their own brand. We were not on the Wild Atlantic Way or in Ireland's Ancient East. We have a unique beauty in the midlands and we want to make sure we get that support. Through the just transition fund, we have funding but we need continued support to make sure we can drive the tourism product, working with everybody involved, including local authorities, stakeholders, people in the business and the tourism committees and tourism officers throughout the region.

I will start by speaking about a lot of the good work being done in County Galway to enhance our tourist offerings and support the many businesses and community organisations which contribute an awful lot to our history and heritage. I attended the 25th anniversary of the Athenry Heritage Centre last week and it was a fantastic occasion. The centre has been very successful in promoting Athenry as a heritage town and attracting visitors to the area. Huge credit should go to all involved in the local community. Athenry is a town with significant tourism potential given our rich and unique history and heritage. It is fair to say that potential has not been fully realised. I acknowledge the many great efforts being made by community organisations to rectify that, and indeed by Galway County Council through the Athenry town team in terms of particular heritage spaces in the town. I hope those efforts are fully supported by the Government and the tourism authorities. Last week, I attended the launch of the Yeats-Gregory explorer bus at Coole Park. This bus service that will run regularly through the summer months, linking all the key heritage, cultural and historical attractions across south Galway, including Coole, the Kiltartan Gregory Museum, Thoor Ballylee, Kilmacduagh and Gort town centre. It is a fantastic initiative that should be replicated elsewhere. Huge credit to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Galway County Council and Fáilte Ireland for supporting it. There is a lot of positive work going on. I raise Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara. The castle has been closed for the past three years. It is an enormous loss to the community and wider region, especially now as we come into the summer months and the height of the tourist season. It is a huge, missed opportunity for Kinvara and surrounding areas. This is an iconic landmark right on the Wild Atlantic Way that has been left essentially abandoned. One of our greatest tourist and heritage assets in County Galway has been left closed to the public indefinitely. We have tourists standing outside every single day who want to enter but cannot do so. I am getting hundreds of emails from locals and tourists alike who cannot understand why this is being allowed to continue. It is causing enormous frustration. The core of this issue is funding. While Galway County Council is willing to acquire the castle from the Shannon Group and reopen it, it cannot do so without Government funding to bring the castle up to a safe standard. Why is the Government hesitating about providing the funding required? All we hear are excuses from different Ministers passing the buck between Departments. It seems no one is willing to take responsibility for this situation. The frustrating part is the Government did it before when it provided significant funding to Clare and Limerick county councils to acquire sites like Bunratty Castle and St. John's Castle from the Shannon Group. There is precedent here. We are asking for fair play and for the same funding to be provided to Galway County Council and Kinvara to get Dunguaire Castle reopened. I ask the Minister of State to consider coming down to the area to visit Kinvara and the castle to see the huge missed opportunity for himself. He could engage with representatives and stakeholders in the local community. This situation cannot persist any longer.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the Chamber on this hugely important yet too often underestimated pillar of our national economy. Tourism is not and should not be a luxury add-on to our economic strategy, nor a seasonal afterthought. It is an extremely important component of our national economy, one that sustains many of our rural communities. It supports small businesses, preserves our cultural heritage and, in many respects, keeps rural Ireland alive. If we are serious about balanced regional development, we must be serious about tourism. It contributes billions annually to the Irish economy and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, many of them in rural counties where alternative industries are often limited. It drives demand for hospitality, transport, food production, crafts, festivals and cultural experiences. It is one of the few sectors that reach into every town, parish and county. Where tourism thrives, the entire nation thrives. When tourism is neglected, rural Ireland feels it first and hardest. Nowhere is this more evident than in my own county of Wexford. Wexford is a county whose identity, economy and social fabric are massively intertwined with tourism. We are blessed with natural beauty, cultural richness and a heritage that stretches from the Norman invasion via Baginbun to the 1798 Rebellion to the modern arts festivals which draw visitors from across the world. However, blessings alone do not sustain an economy; investment, vision and leadership do. Next year, 2027, is the year of the Norman. A few years back, I had the pleasure of hosting a delegation from Normandy, including the president of the Regional Council of Normandy, Hervé Morin. Normandy has a population of 3.3 million. Incredibly, the delegation had very little knowledge of Ireland's or Wexford's connection to Normandy. It is with areas like Normandy that we should be looking to connect via much bigger national investment. There is huge potential in that connection, particularly since Brexit. The people of Normandy used to send their children to England to learn English. Ireland now has a terrific opportunity because of the constraints after Brexit. If we look at a sister city of Wexford, Savannah in Georgia, it has huge historical connections with Ireland and Wexford. Some 57% of the population there trace their heritage to County Wexford. The city itself has a population of 170,000 people, yet last year it had 13 million visitors. If we compare that to Ireland, we had 6.4 million visitors. There is no direct flight to Savannah despite the huge connections. As an example, a 16,000 sq. ft Wexford bar has just opened in the heart of Savannah. I do not know if the Minister of State has been there-----

Not yet.

-----but it is a wonderful tourism addition and could be an embassy for our tourism industry. We also need to look to exploit, in a sustainable way, what is available on our doorstep, for example, our seas and rivers. It is estimated that between 8 million and ten million people participate in sea angling across Europe every year, generating an economic impact of between €8 billion and €10 billion. France has recorded 1.4 million recreational anglers. England and Wales show that, historically, participation reaches over 4.2 million, split between course, game and sea angling. Wexford hosted the world and European shore angling competitions in the recent past and will do so again, no doubt, in the future because of our dual coastline. It is a perfect area for angling, depending on the direction of the wind, yet we really do not pursue the opportunities that are clear in this sector, and it is something we really should be looking at. The attractions we see across the country are not just points on a map; they are economic lifelines. They sustain jobs in hotels, cafés, bed and breakfast accommodation, restaurants, taxis, shops and activity providers. They support farmers who supply local produce. They keep our towns vibrant and our villages open. In Wexford, tourism is not an optional extra; it is the cornerstone of our prosperity. Local authorities are expected to promote tourism, develop local strategies, support festivals, maintain public amenities and market their region, but they are expected to do all this with budgets that are wholly inadequate for the scale of the task. We cannot keep asking local authorities to deliver world-class tourism outcomes on shoestring budgets. It is unrealistic, it is unfair and it is holding back the potential of counties such as Wexford. If we want tourism to flourish, we must invest in the people and institutions that make it happen. Local authorities need substantial, multi-year, ring-fenced funding for tourism promotion, not ad hoc grants, once-off allocations or competitive schemes that pit counties against one another. What they need is predictable, strategic investment that allows them to plan, innovate and build long-term capacity. Let us imagine what Wexford County Council and all other local authorities could achieve with a properly funded tourism promotion department. We could expand international marketing campaigns. We could develop new and more greenways, blueways and heritage trails. We could support more festivals, and not just the flagship ones but the smaller, community-led events that give towns their identity. We can really do so much more with this product.

As the Minister will probably know, I used to work in Bord Fáilte and Fáilte Ireland until I made the crazy decision to get into politics. I am sure all Members wish I had not. I used to be a manager. I created the national tourism database. I am very proud of that because it distributes all the information to this day for everything we do in tourism. A colleague of mine, a fellow Tipperary man who was my manager, had a saying about tourism: "We cannot forget the hole in the doughnut." The issue is that a large number of people who come into this country go around the outskirts of Ireland. If, however, we consider the quality of the offering and, from a price comparison point of view, of what is also available for tourists down the spine of Ireland, there is a golden opportunity for us, particularly with Deputy Burke as Minister and, dare I say, with the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, beside him. From Cavan all the way down to the Cork-Kerry border, it as an oval shape that is the hole in the doughnut. That is where we need to concentrate capital and current investment. A number of years ago, when we had very little money, we launched the Lough Derg plan, a roadmap for experience development and destination marketing. Where I am from, along Lough Derg, which touches County Clare, north Tipperary and south Galway and the Shannon basin, is a hidden secret. People come into Killaloe now that we have the new bridge, which I hold my hands up as being responsible for. Access is incredible. They come along the lake. Some of them have never heard of the greatest place on earth, Garrykennedy, which is unbelievably popular once people get there, or they go to Terryglass, Dromineer, Ballycommon, Ballina or wherever else. I use that as an example of how we, as a country, need to extend our tourism season and our tourism product generally. Tourism can be defined by three As and an E: accommodation, attractions, activities and events. I urge the Minister, from a capital and current point of view, to put together a programme for - he does not have to call it this - the hole in the doughnut in this country when it comes to tourism. It is incredibly important that he does so, and it would be a testament and a legacy for him if he were to do so. In the Nenagh and north Tipperary area, we are very proud of Shane MacGowan. There is a trail called Unravelling Shane MacGowan, which has been set up and supported by Siobhan, his sister, and Tipperary County Council, particularly Rosemary Joyce, with a huge number of people coming on the tour. There is the old family cottage, which we would love to get into some form of local authority or national ownership. I ask the Minister sometime he is passing down through the middle of Ireland - obviously, Nenagh is very central - to meet with the family there to discuss same. It would not involve a massive outlay but I wanted to take this opportunity to ask the Minister about that. Finally, when it comes to the events side of the three As and the E, festivals are critical. The Minister is aware of the issue with tickets.ie. In fairness, he took a call from me last week about this. As regards the large-scale festival we have had in Thurles for the past number of years, Liberty Music Festival, now that tickets.ie has basically gone wallop, Councillor Jim Ryan in Thurles and others are having to find about €300,000 to support the festival to go ahead. Campsites and tickets are sold out yet, like a number of other festivals in this country, Liberty Music Festival is being massively affected by this. This is not the fault of the Government; it is a collective Oireachtas and regulatory fault. The idea that tickets.ie or any similar type of organisation can take millions of euro, put the money into its own account, hold it and then go wallop, just from a regulatory point of view, is nuts. It is insane. It is crazy. It should not be allowed to happen. Let us imagine where we would all be left if ticketmaster.ie went wallop in the morning. There are all these small festivals. I ask the Minister to examine this from a regulatory point of view. I commend all those who are supporting the festival to keep it going this year. I do not know where they will get the funding for it or how they will be supported, but if there is any way in which that can happen, it would be great. On the principle of tickets.ie and the regulatory process, we, as a Legislature, need to deal with it.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the importance of tourism to our economy, our communities and our national identity. Tourism remains one of the most important and significant industries, supporting employment, enterprise and regional development in every county. Hundreds of thousands of people depend directly or indirectly on tourism activities, from accommodation to visitor attractions, transport, festivals, heritage sites and other recreation. Despite recent challenges, Ireland continues to attract millions of visitors each year. As a TD for County Laois, I want to highlight the enormous tourism potential that exists in the midlands and in my own county and the need to match that potential with real investment on the ground. For far too long, Laois has been overlooked as a tourism destination but the reality is that the county has outstanding heritage, outdoor recreation and cultural experiences. We have the Rock of Dunamase, one of the most iconic medieval sites in the country, and Emo Court, one of the finest neoclassical estates in Ireland. Emo Court had 305,000 visitors last year and the Rock of Dunamase had 44,000. These figures show what is possible when the product is supported. Beyond that, the Slieve Bloom Mountains offer some of the best walking and cycling in the country. Our towns and villages, including Abbeyleix, Durrow, Portarlington, Timahoe and many others, have strong cultural and heritage experiences, supported by festivals and sporting events - real economic benefit into rural, local communities. Laois is located within easy reach of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. However, tourism does not happen by accident. It needs investment in infrastructure, walking and cycling routes, public area improvements, heritage conservation and destination development. If we want counties like Laois to reach their potential, we must be fair in how national tourism funding is delivered. One of the biggest tourism and recreational gaps in County Laois is that we do not have a greenway. Ours is one of the few counties in this State without one. At a time outdoor recreation tourism is growing, that is a serious disadvantage. However, I have good news as a Laois TD. Laois has real potential in this space, especially with the old Bord na Móna rail corridor from Cashel bog through Togher Woods and over to Ross bog. This is a continuation of an existing route, with strong potential conversion into a greenway, that exists and that was used to take the peat off the bogs, which is no longer allowed. That is why I am really passionate about what I say. I have called this proposal the O'More way. It reflects local identity and ambition. The corridor exists in its entirely, including under railway lines and national roads and routes. It is all there, ready to go up and ready to run if we get the funding. I raised this recently at a joint committee meeting on rural development policy where I highlighted the need to prioritise viable greenway projects that are not yet funded. This is the frustration on the ground. Ready-made projects are waiting while others progress. I have also raised this directly with the Minister, Deputy Calleary. Too often, counties like Laois end up at the back of the queue when funding decisions are made. I want to acknowledge the work of Laois County Council and the local groups that are pushing this forward. The support is there, the demand is there; what is missing is delivery. We need better joined-up thinking involving agencies like Bord na Móna. We cannot afford to lose projects that already have roots and strong backing.

Like other Members I am going to discuss the virtues of my own constituency from a tourism perspective. It offers a unique tourism experience. Unlike many other areas, we have a bustling city that is expanding but we also have a region of great natural beauty beside it in Connemara. It offers tourists a unique opportunity to experience both. Many see Galway mar príomhchathair dhátheangach agus príomhchathair chultúrtha na tíre seo - the bilingual capital of the country. One of the things about bilingualism and an Ghaeilge is nach ndéanfaimid dóthain chun cúrsaí turasóireachta a spreagadh ó thaobh na teanga de - we do not use the language enough. We do not use the fact that the language is spoken as the daily language of the community in Connemara and is widely heard across Galway city as something to attract tourists to enjoy. Sadly, not every part of the country can say that but we can in Galway. We appreciate it and as locals we feel that offers a unique opportunity for tourists to come and experience it. One of the things Galway City Council has sought to do - I support it on this. In fact, I was a member of the council when we first discussed it - is the opportunity for the local authority to develop a tourism tax. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to travel so much abroad. I always pay a tourism tax to the hotel operator in addition to the cost of staying at the hotel. Again, fortunately, it is something that I can do. We need to look at it as an opportunity for local authorities to raise revenue. There are additional costs on certain local authorities as a result of being a location that tourists enjoy. We like to keep the city cleaner. There is greater usage of public transport. There is a greater need to maintain good road quality and, as Deputy Aird says, to build things like greenways. Local authorities would benefit from the opportunity to raise funds through a tourism tax. Dublin City Council has sought it. Galway City Council was the first to moot it. We should give councils the liberty and the opportunity to do so. They are conscious enough to do so in a way that does not make the attraction too expensive or that it will not kill the goose that lays the golden egg in terms of tourism. We should move on that and allow them to do that. Bhí mé ag caint faoi Chonamara ansin. Ba mhaith liom dhá áit eile i gConamara a lua atá thar a bheith tábhachtach ó thaobh cúrsaí turasóireachta agus cuairteoirí de. I want to mention the Connemara National Park. It offers a fantastic experience for tourists. In the region of a quarter of a million people visit it every year. I would like to see it being further developed. There is a wonderful visitor centre there and it has a new experience that teaches people about the Connemara pony - something that is again unique to the area. Luaim chomh maith Ionad Cultúrtha an Phiarsaigh i Rosmuc, aonad a chuireann síos ar stair na háite maidir le Pádraig Pearse. Bhí cónaí air san áit ar feadh blianta agus é ag foghlaim na teanga. I will finish by referring to the importance of tourism to the offshore islands. It is the crucial industry for them. There is some concern about the impact of the changes to the short-term letting sphere that we are going to introduce. I just ask that we might consider particular details for the offshore islands.

I want to make a pitch for my own constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. We cannot be complacent about our success or rest on our laurels. We have to continue to be innovative and to develop our tourism product. In this regard, we need to look at the strengths of each county and not just make every county, city and village the same. We must look at what they have to offer and have strategic investment in what each county is doing or wants to do. It is not driven from the top; it is driven by the community and those who are involved in the tourism industry. There should be a Norman museum and study centre in Kilkenny. It is the heart of our Norman history. It can attract tourists right across Europe who are engaging in Norman history and education. The Ministers for tourism and higher education should develop that type of offering with the South East Technological University, which will attract real money and real tourism. We need to build on the strengths that we have in the county, for example, in Graiguenamanagh, and highlight the historic areas and locations where business was conducted many years ago in a very different way, for example, Duiske Glass and Cushendale Mills. That would encourage people to know the brand and be able to identify it and buy it abroad. There is a coal mining trail. I would link it to Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, which has historically been a big coal mining district. These are the things we should be looking at as well as what is happening currently in the equine industry. There are horses in Ireland, horses being exported, sport abroad and sport in Ireland. There is a massive amount of money that could benefit the economy if we were to exploit all of that area. I agree with Deputies Lawlor and Gibney on what they said about festivals. We need to fund them in a strategic way. We need to give lot more funding through local authorities to ensure they can direct the funding to support the strategies they have for developing tourism. I urge that it would be considered seriously because the funding is very scattered and piecemeal. While there are big allocations, it is the smaller community efforts that should take pride of place and therefore the county should have a greater role in it.

I acknowledge the huge work that has been done by so many people around the country, particularly in a voluntary capacity to develop the tourism package that we offer to people. Tourists come to Ireland for a number of reasons. There is leisure tourism and activity tourism. We have a lot of that in my region with the Shannon waterway among others. We also have a lot of hill walking, etc. In addition, we have interest tourism - people who want to come to look at history and how people lived in the past or developed. We have the coal mining experience in Arigna, Seán Mac Diarmada's Cottage in north Leitrim as well as Yeats country. We have all of the types of tourism packages that attract people and bring those who have an interest in a particular region or a particular area. The Government needs to put more investment into all of that and ensure that we have the level of support required to build the critical mass so that it can work on its own. Very often in the early days that is one of the critical points as a lot of tourism packages cannot develop without support. The Wild Atlantic Way has been a great success from a marketing perspective, as has the Hidden Heartlands, which also runs through a lot of my area. It has a lot more potential and needs a lot more investment. I want to return to a topic that was raised by others, namely, festivals. They are a big part of summer tourism attractions, in particular in a lot of small places around the country. People come to music festivals, literature festivals and whatever else. A lot of them are organised by community projects and community groups and they need funding and assistance to ensure they can survive. In the past, some of them got bits of assistance from the local authorities. Then there is a need for a bit of crowd control and the Garda charges them a fortune to manage the crowd. It just seems to turn it on its head. There needs to be an overall examination of all of that. Finally, I want to come to the issue of tickets.ie. As we know, it went wallop in the last week. A lot of festivals around the country were affected. The Rory Gallagher International Festival in Ballyshannon, County Donegal has lost an awful lot of money. The organisers do not know where it has gone. It has disappeared. Cowboys and Heroes in Ballinamore, County Leitrim is a country music festival that was on again last weekend. Everybody who attended had a tremendous time. It was wonderful, but the promoters say there is no money there any more. This company is owned by DEAG, which is the largest shareholder. I understand it is a German company with an annual turnover of about €450 million, so there is no absence of money in the parent company, which needs to be held accountable for this. My understanding is that in the past couple years since it was taken over by international companies, it has been scaled down. Its offices have been closed. It has been scaled down to the stage where it was all being run by one man working from home. Now, it has pulled the plug on it and nobody knows where it has gone. There is an issue about how we regulate such agencies and organisations. A solicitor or an auctioneer has to have a client account. That is what it was doing. It was handling clients’ money. It was selling the tickets to the customers, taking in the money, holding it and giving it back. There is no such thing as client account in these organisations. There needs to be an examination of how this can be properly regulated and properly done. There also needs to be some kind of compensation, particularly for the community organisations but for all the organisations that run festivals around the country that may be largely out of pocket because of this.

This is particularly important debate. It is a critical industry for our entire country. To start with, I want to praise the work of Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland in terms of what they do to promote tourism in this country, build infrastructure and, indeed, build relationships. Specifically, to the Minister of State's own brief, given that people are increasingly going to be using AI platforms to plan their holidays, we need to look at a strategy around how we can ensure Ireland is well-positioned to be able to avail of those opportunities. As the Minister of State knows, I am fortunate to represent the constituency of Wicklow-Wexford, which I would argue has some of the finest beaches in the country running from Brittas Bay through Arklow south beach to Clogga, Clone, Ballymoney, where I spent much of my own childhood and which has a beautiful beach, to Courtown harbour, which is in need of renourishment at the moment, to Cahore, Old Bawn, Morriscastle and many others in between. We need a strategy to ensure that we have sustainable beach tourism in Ireland. I was very struck by the University of Galway's report today about the impact of climate change on our coastal communities. We have to protect homes and infrastructure but it is also important that we protect our beaches. They are a critical part of the local tourism infrastructure. Now that Wexford County Council has a marine area consent licence for the potential development of breakwaters at Courtown harbour, restoring the beach that many of us remember from our childhoods there is critical. The Minister of State will be aware that next year, we are going to be celebrating Canada-Ireland 180, marking 180 years since 1847 when a lot of the connections developed between Ireland and Canada. As we know, Prime Minister Carney is coming here this week. Canada is now our fifth biggest market with over 200,000 people coming here each year but there is potential for a lot more. In the constituency I am proud to represent in south-west Wicklow, many travelled during the middle of the 1800s on assisted famine passage from that area. Over 6,000 men, women and children travelled from south-west Wicklow to Canada. That is, in fact, very much documented in the excellent book "Shoeboxes: From Irish Roots to Canadian Branches" by the late Kevin Lee and Tom Jenkins. Given the tens of thousands of people - there is a greater proportion of Canadians who claim Irish heritage than Americans - I believe it is a market that remains untapped. As colleagues mentioned, next year is also the year of the Normans. While I know there are many who are making claims to Norman heritage, it was from Ferns Castle that the original invitation was sent to invite the Normans to Ireland. Ferns is a wonderful example of a Norman castle. It is very well maintained. Even more importantly, there is a Norman festival that takes place there, which I was involved in recently. There is a wonderful local Ferns village committee. It is critical, not alone in terms of us fostering our relationships with our nearest EU neighbour, France, particularly with all the ferries coming into Rosslare, for people to be able to explore those Norman links right around the south east. That potential is something we do need to do more about and to exploit and explore. I also want to commend those who are involved in the development of the south Wicklow greenway project. We are aware of the success of greenways right around the country. The south Wicklow one has perhaps been taking a bit longer to get off the ground than many would have liked. I know that the chair, Anthony Murphy, former Councillor John Mullen and, indeed, many people in the local community who are very actively involved in this want to see it up and running. Developing those links from Arklow out to Shillelagh, even if it is done on a phased basis, is important for people to be able to visit all those wonderful villages right across south Wicklow as well as for the tourism potential we could see for Arklow town. We look at Dungarvan as an example and at how the Waterford greenway has been transformational. Something similar could happen with Arklow. I am a bit frustrated about the slow pace of movement on the greenway. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, made money available to Wicklow County Council to progress it. I want to see this as a priority because of the tourism potential for all those villages from Aughrim and Avoca to Tinahely and Shillelagh and on to Carnew, and particularly with those Canadian connections. The potential of all that is huge and we need to explore it. Sometimes we do not sell our island sufficiently. There is often too much of a focus, dare I say, on Dublin. It is critical, and I have outlined some of the points with regard to the potential of our links with Normandy and Canada. We need to talk about an all-island strategy. That is something I hope the Minister of State will take on board.

I am delighted to discuss tourism which is of national importance and significance. One thing we have in common across the country is the need for tourism. One very positive step we had with this Government is that we put tourism under the economic brief. With the Minister, Deputy Burke, in attendance, we have someone with an especially keen watch on tourism because it does show how tourism can impact. It is obviously great when people come to visit the country because, ultimately, what they do is spend money in our economy. They spend money positively. We do it ourselves when we go on holidays around the country. What we do is leave money behind us. As a country and as towns and villages, we have to be careful. We have to ensure that we do not try to take too much money. We cannot kill the golden goose. Something we have to careful about from our own economic perspective is that we keep an eye on prices, such as car rental prices, hotel prices and the lattes and scones potentially costing up to a tenner. They are the things we have to watch. We have to ensure that Ireland remains a place to visit where not only will people get a great experience but it will not cost them a fortune. In fairness, that is something on which we have to keep an eye. As Deputy Byrne outlined earlier, Ireland has a great tradition of tourism coming from the US, considering the number of people who went abroad. That is something we relied upon through different times. Movies like "Ryan's Daughter" sold Ireland to countries like America and since then, Ireland has benefitted economically from it. Tourism might be seen from a national perspective to have fallen down some levels of importance but we do know that for some areas, it is massively significant. One issue I want to talk about is how this Government and, in fairness, the previous Government have over the past number of years reached out in many different ways to America, be it the American college football games or the NFL last year. We will have the Ryder Cup coming here. These events can draw in thousands of new people and thousands of eyeballs on the television. They can have a massive impact. That is hugely important. Another issue I want to highlight is probably one we have not highlighted and sold enough to tourists. This should not always be about sales and money but one thing is the likes of the GAA. Do we push it enough to tourists? Do people know and understand that we have our own indigenous games? While we welcome games and highlight and showcase them, it is also important that we showcase what we have on our doorstep. We have traditions and games of our own. We are brilliant at exporting music and culture and those traditions but, ultimately, we also need to look at it from a sporting place. The GAA potentially has a great role to play. Obviously, it has done its bit with the museum and everything else but from a tourism board and national perspective, it is something we have to push more. As I get down towards more of a parochial level, I look at Kildare North and Kildare in general. I have been lucky enough to have been a mayor of Kildare. I have been fortunate enough to be a councillor there for a number of years. However, one thing I felt was that we probably did not have enough visitors coming through. We have the golf courses and carting. We have the K Club. We have the horseracing. Indeed, we have places like Castletown House, Kilkea Castle and Lullymore in the north west of the county. We have some great locations. These are places that can really bring in more people because they are so close to the airport. Indeed, when we talk about tourism, we should not miss out on internal tourism and the fact that people are going from one side of the country to the other and spending their money. We need to continue to push on this. I know Into Kildare has done a huge amount of work and put a huge amount of effort into marketing the county. I look for more assistance from the Department, if possible, to continue that. I was lucky to be in Castletown House on Monday and got shown around for the umpteenth time. The OPW has been able to buy the land. We now have access restored. This is a cultural pearl of north Kildare that we should continue to push as well. As I said, there are lots of opportunities and possibilities but in the good hands of the Minister, Deputy Burke, there is no reason why tourism will not continue to thrive in the country.

I have been seeking this debate for about three months at the Business Committee so I am glad the Minister is here before us. I will concentrate very much on the serious issue of short-term lets. I have very little time so I will ask a number of questions the Minister might be able to answer in his summing up. There has been major confusion, as we have seen. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are all over the place on this issue, so much so that people have been told for the last two years to sign up in May but now that can has been kicked down the road. The Social Democrats and the Labour Party have been very clear that they do not support short-term lets. That is the end of tourism in rural communities as far as they are concerned and Sinn Féin is singing from both sides of its mouth. Will the Minister confirm precisely what categories of accommodation are proposed to be exempted from the proposed planning restrictions? Will it be granny flats, converted barns and outbuildings? Is it them or is it glamping units, treehouses or accommodation attached to a principal private residence? Has there been any evidence-based assessment conducted by the Department to determine how many short-term letting properties would realistically become long-term residential tenancies if the proposed restrictions are implemented? Will that analysis be published? Will the Minister provide the most up-to-date estimate of the number of short-term letting units that will be affected in counties such as Cork, Kerry, Donegal, Mayo and Galway, broken down by local authority? Has the Department completed a tourism impact assessment quantifying the potential loss of visitor bed capacity arising from the proposed measures and if so will he bring it before the Dáil for debate? Given the repeated delays to the legislation, will the Minister outline which specific provisions remain unresolved between Departments and whether disagreements relate to housing-supply projections, tourism impacts, planning law or enforcement mechanisms? Has the Department conducted any analysis of the economic impact on rural communities where short-term letting income supports local restaurants, pubs' activities, providers and tourism businesses? On Tuesday, 28 April, the Taoiseach told this House that if someone is operating an Airbnb for seven years, he or she does not need planning permission. Does the Minister stand over that statement? My understanding is that they will be required to make an application for retention in order to be able to get on the register. Perhaps the Minister will have a word with the Taoiseach and ask him to come to the House and correct the record. On Tuesday, 28 April, the Taoiseach told this House, "The policy decision we have taken, of which the Deputy is well aware, is that it relates to towns over 20,000, so that excludes straight away all of the western seaboard and the north western seaboard, all the way along." Perhaps the Minister could give the Taoiseach a geography lesson and remind him that Tralee, Limerick city, Galway city, Sligo and even towns such as Ennis and Letterkenny are vital hubs for the surrounding, rural, seaboard tourism communities. Will the Minister bring clarity today about the criteria that planning authorities will use in assessing and making determinations on material change-of-use applications for existing and new short-term letting units in both towns and villages? These are issues that I would appreciate an answer to.

While I welcome this debate, I am representing the constituency of Cork North-Central. In 2034, Cork city will be celebrating its 850th birthday. It is a maritime city, with strong harbour connections and great stories. It has a huge natural harbour as the Minister knows. Our tourism industry is doing well when it comes to the number of cruises, which is up this year. Seamus Heaney from Visit Cork has been doing a tremendous job with a very small team of staff. I am not sure whether the Minister has had the opportunity to visit Seamus and his team, but they warrant tremendous respect for the amount of investment they have brought to Cork and the tremendous work that goes on in Visit Cork. Thousands of tourists visit Blarney Castle every day but the problem is that Blarney does not retain those tourists. They are not staying there overnight. Equally with the cruises that come into the city, people are being taken on buses to Tipperary and Waterford. They are not investing in the city and the greater Cork area. As the Minister knows, Cork produces over 61% of the country's artisan foods. Cork is the largest producer of these foods. The English Market is doing a tremendous job as well. The recent royal visit prompted a lot of success and a lot of visitors. However, I do not see Tourism Ireland or the Department of tourism recognising Cork city as a place where you can invest in artisan food and where there is an investment opportunity for Cork to bring more people into Cork, to have the food and wine experience. The Minister is familiar with the Huguenot and Jacobite story in Cork as well, and the great wine houses of Bordeaux, which have direct connections to the Wine Geese of Cork, for example, Lawton's Quay and the great Pierre Lawton, who still operates his family's business, the Hennessy family, etc. There is so much needed for Cork and there is so much needed for investment in Cork. We need to have an anchor tenant and we need to have an anchor business as an attraction to Cork. I am asking the Minister to bring in some sort of moneys and funding to the local authority to allow it to invest in a large anchor complex, such as what Guinness has in Dublin with the Guinness Storehouse.

Mayo is one of the most scenic and beautiful counties in this country. In recent years, we welcomed the US President and I understand next week Mayo is due to welcome the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney. Tourism is the lifeblood of so many areas in Mayo, including west Mayo, east Mayo, north and south, in Cong, for example, Westport, Clare Island, the Barony of Erris, which is absolutely stunning, and Achill Island. Mayo has so much to offer. Many communities, particularly rural ones, depend on tourism. That is why I am very concerned about the short-term lettings. It is very important that we protect families who have a long-standing tradition in relation to it. I also concerned by the fact there was a 6% drop in tourism last year. That represents millions of euro to the Irish economy and cost competitiveness is a factor. Ireland is the second most expensive country in the EU. It is important that the Minister look at that, for example, car rentals. I spoke to an Irish-American family who came back to Ireland last year. They outlined the phenomenal expense of their stay. They said that going forward with a young family, it is becoming increasingly difficult. They talked about how obtaining a car rental and car insurance cost thousands of euro for a two-week trip. I ask the Minister to consider that and look at those practical measures.

When I was told that I had 90 seconds to talk about tourism, my first thought was "Aw fliuch", because tá sé ag cur baistí i gconaí an t-am ar fad, so we have to make use of the fliuch or the wetness in Ireland. One of the ways to do it would be to promote Ireland as a more climate-friendly destination to people from the likes of Spain and the south of France. They could come here, get a little bit of coolness and have a great experience. To tie in with that, i ndáiríre, we also have to make sure that we have proper canopies for cover, especially in our key tourism heritage sites. I mentioned in previous debates that we should have covered areas, both for markets and for eating, so that all the main streets of our tourist towns would have a canopy. It keeps the sun out, but it also keeps the rain out. If the Spanish, French or the Germans want to go for a hike in the rain, that is their prerogative and we should encourage that and promote it. Equally, when people want to enjoy the other experiences in Ireland they cannot sit outside, especially during the winter months. I note that the strategy references promoting more visits from May to October. Some of those months are dry but some of them are quite wet. We also have the potential in January and February for people with their coats on to sit outside in the fresh air have a cup of tea or coffee or have breakfast, but those coverings need to be in place. In terms of the strategy, maybe the Minister could look at that dry coverage for key tourist destinations.

I want to raise three topics under tourism. The first is short-term lets. Short-term lets provide the only form of tourist accommodation in many parts of rural Ireland. They bring tourists from all over the world to places that would never otherwise receive tourists. I know because I live in a village in rural west Wicklow and have witnessed what these short-term lets bring. These industries were here before the housing shortage and they will be here long after the housing shortage is gone. They supply accommodation where hotels will never be built. They offer a unique and authentic experience to the tourist and show Ireland at its best. We cannot destroy an industry on the basis that it may increase the housing supply by some small amount. I know a poll was carried out across a number of host groups across the country. On average, 93% of hosts cannot or will not release their property to long-term letting. Hosts have no issue with a register. The impact of releasing extra rental accommodation will be negligible but the impact on tourism, people's incomes and rural Ireland is clear. My second point is on the American Presidents trail. Twenty-three US Presidents have Irish heritage, with many coming from Northern Ireland. As the Minister will know, I first floated the idea of an American Presidents trail early last year in this House. I strongly believe this proposal could be a huge positive for a North-South project. It could also be a massive attraction for US visitors, especially those with Irish links and could be comparable to the Wild Atlantic Way. I strongly believe my proposal could be hugely positive for a North-South project and would fit with the whole reason for the shared island fund. It would boost the economy of the island and deliver benefits that we cannot predict. I am pleased that the project has been approved by Cabinet and I want to thank the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, for his great support in this project and ask the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to support it as well. I look forward to the development of the project over the coming years. I also believe that Tourism Ireland and Bord Fáilte should be building this into their tourism strategy. My final point relates to hill forts. Baltinglass, where I hail from, is a small town in west Wicklow. There are nine hill forts in the vicinity of the town and it is described by experts as the hill fort capital of Ireland. This is by far the biggest cluster in the country. Research work and archaeological digs have been carried out and this work was widely reported on national television and radio earlier this year. This has further revealed many other ancient sites and lead-researchers have now described the area and the archaeological capital of Ireland. I bring this to the Minister's attention today and ask for him to support and develop this huge part of our heritage and history and bring it to a wider audience.

Tourism is one of Ireland's most important indigenous industries. It is a huge employer, particularly down the country. It is so important to all sorts of businesses around the country. There are 6.4 million overseas visitors into Ireland, bringing €5.5 million into Ireland. We have Dublin in the middle of that, which is a very popular destination. I want to touch on the tourism levy, which I support. It is important we use and develop the offering in Dublin from a tourism perspective. I have raised it here before. I know it has been discussed in this Chamber and elsewhere in recent times. Ireland is a bit of an outlier at the moment, particularly when it comes to capital cities. For a capital city like Dublin, 21 out of 27 EU member states have some form of a tourism levy and I think Dubliners would be very supportive of it. Perhaps the fact they would not be paying it would help but they pay it when they travel to other countries and other capital cities in Europe. I think there is strong support for its introduction. Dublin City Council has estimated it would raise between €15 million and €20 million, which could be reinvested in local infrastructure. We are talking a small charge of probably €2 a head for a night in a hotel or maybe something of the order of €3. It is common and it happens everywhere. People understand the concept and think it is a fair ask. We could reinvest that money in infrastructure to improve the tourism offering across the city and beyond. I understand Fáilte Ireland is commissioning research on existing tourist levies across Europe in line with the recommendations of the Dublin City Task Force. As others have mentioned, I am delighted to see tourism under the Minister's brief because it is an economic activity and it is important it is treated like that and is developed. An oversight board led by the Department is already in place to oversee its implementation. We just need to get on with it now, get Government support confirmed and do it. I am very supportive of that and hope the Minister and his Department will progress it. I just want to mention the regional development of tourism within Dublin city. In my area on the northside, we have Clontarf, Howth, which is an old fishing port with a fantastic tourism offering, Ireland's Eye, the Casino in Marino and Bram Stoker's house in Fairview. There is so much to see and do within Dublin, which is not just in the city centre. There are the mountains on the southern side of Dublin also. A regional strategy within Dublin which tries to target promotion and resources in some way would be very welcome and worth pursuing. Others have mentioned the short-term lets issue. In the interests of fairness, somebody who has been operating an Airbnb for seven years or more, they are doing that well and professionally. It is not a big issue in terms of accommodation if they are left to continue to do that. That is an economic activity from a tourism perspective. They do exist in Dublin. They do exist on the northside. We need to make sure that they are afforded the opportunity to keep doing that.

I am going to start off addressing the short-term lets. As the Minister knows, I am a member of the enterprise committee where we have been considering the legislation and considering the conversations around it. One of the main things that consistently comes across from people in the industry is that they are not really concerned with the register as such. However, they are very concerned with the implications that could follow on from the register if there is a planning obligation forced on so many of these rural lets. I represent Galway East where we have a significant number of fantastic short-term let options that provide accommodation that, to be honest, would not be there only for tourism. That accommodation is the type of accommodation that this Bill really is not going to bring back into long-term letting. I can understand the power the Bill can have on big cities in terms of bringing townhouses and apartments back in as long-term rental accommodation use, which they were originally built for and which they were originally given planning permission for. However, there are a lot of units, dwellings, granny flats and really creative ideas like tepee huts and log cabins. A lot of these have been there for many years providing a unique form of accommodation and providing a unique experience. Whatever about the register, there needs to be serious consideration when it comes to the planning side of it because the obligation it would put on these operators would be seriously onerous and, from all the dealings I have seen from local authorities, is that it would amount to a significant cost on them as well. It would also add to the local authority's workload in their planning departments so that is also an important consideration. Over the past decade, Fáilte Ireland did an incredible job, along with the local authorities, of implementing, designing and driving the Wild Atlantic Way. In 2024, there was a ten-year report on the Wild Atlantic Way and it showed it drives an extra €3 billion in revenue per year and has added an additional 35,000 jobs to the tourism sector. That is an incredible story. When the Wild Atlantic Way is so successful and has so much to offer, why are we allowing the best, most photographed castle in the west of Ireland and one of the most photographed castles in Ireland be left vacant and closed? It is currently owned by the Shannon Group, which is looking to divest. Galway County Council should take it over and should operate it. I know we have met with the Minister on this, that he has it as a consideration and that he needs other Departments to row in with him to make this a reality. Months have passed now and Galway County Council has not taken it into ownership. If Galway County Council took it into ownership, there is nothing stopping it from opening over the summer on a minimum viable product basis. That essentially means it does not have to be perfect for us to open it. Right now, the longer it is left sitting it is rotting and it is decaying and we will never be able to replace it. We are going to look back at history and say we did a great job with the Wild Atlantic Way but the best castle on the route was closed.

I thank the Minister for taking this. I represent Dublin South-Central, the premier tourist route in the country. Others might disagree with that but the facts speak for themselves. You start at Trinity College and walk a straight line that brings you through Trinity College to the Iveagh Markets, St. James's Hospital - the old South Dublin Union - Roe and Co. and Guinness. Then you find yourself at the Royal Hospital, and then onto Kilmainham Gaol - where I am a member of the board - and the Phoenix Park. All of these are in Dublin 8, apart from the starting point at Trinity. I am here as a bit of a grouch, I suppose. I am not normally a grouch but I refer to decisions over the past number of years in relation to the Liberties, our old town that has been neglected for so long. It is a deliberate neglect, with its problems, poverty and addiction but also the joyousness of its community in regard to what it offers. The Liberties, our old town, is in decay and that decay is built by the glass cages growing up around us. Hats off, in a way, to the guys who occupied the Ardee House pub recently in protest at vacancies, voids, dereliction and the lack of community centres. We do not have a community centre in Dublin 8. It was burned to the ground and still has not opened five years on. Last week, I organised, along with the Bridgefoot Street Residents Association, a protest outside a granted aparthotel, the edifice of which is faceless, featureless, bland and adds nothing to the Liberties. It is a unique space that could be incorporated into the vision of what our old town could be. The Liberties has reached a tipping point. Even the judge in the Ardee House pub occupation case is sympathetic to the occupiers and their demands and has given them extra time. The Vicar Street Hotel and the Molyneux Hotel developers are coming in and building. I do not know if the Minister knows John's Lane Church but the steeple there is very high. It is a top tourist attraction as is St. James's Church. They are going to block that out. They are going to block and box in our flat complexes. You just see cranes all around them. The Minister knows the controversy around Oliver Bond House recently but all the other inner city flat complexes in Dublin 8 are going to be blocked in by tourism. The Liberties needs all of Dublin behind it. I put out that cry and ask everybody. I refer to the Save Stephen's Green and the Save the Cobblestone campaigns, and all those issues on which local communities gathered around and managed to make a difference. We need this old town. It needs respect. The whole of Dublin needs to support it as it affects all Dubliners. I ask that the vision for our old town would not be aparthotels, hotels and transient accommodation. Let us rebuild the community vibrancy that the working-class Liberties always offered to the entire city of Dublin.

I am not sure who is coming from my group. I will take as much time as I can. I thank the Minister, Deputy Burke, for coming to Clonmel some time ago and visiting what is known as the old Bulmer's site right in the centre of the town. It is a project that needs to be developed with something along the lines of the Guinness Storehouse, or something of the same nature. The Minister saw the vats, the history and the feeling of the work that went on there, the craftsmanship with the old barrels and the many hundreds of people who worked there. I remember, as a buachaill óg, drawing in apples on a tractor and trailer back in the 1960s. Tipperary is a very proud county and we have Tipperary Tourism doing its best. I will start in south Tipperary with the Rock of Cashel, the wonderful cultural centre brought to fruition there by iar-Sheanadóir Labhrás Ó Murchú agus a bhean chéile, Úna, and the culture there as well. I will also move on to Cahir Castle. Cahir Developments Association has done so much development around there, with Cahir Tidy Towns. I also cannot say enough about the community groups, including Knockmealdown Active, Knockmealdown Crossing and all the different groups. Ballyporeen has its own music festival. They are struggling and not getting enough supports. They need more supports and we need more connectivity. If you go on then to Carrick-on-Suir, there is Ormond Castle. The castle at Carrick-on-Suir is a wonderful castle. The whole Ormond Castle trail could be more interlinked and there could be more connectivity in it. We want to get the tourists in, look after them and give them the product. Mar fhocal scoir, I want to say to the Minister that the Government has such a confusing message with the short-term lets. People who have developed them in their farmyards and adjacent to their farmhouses, and who have little business going there, are totally in limbo with the Government. They do not know whether they are coming or going.

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this very important topic this evening. Tourism is major moneyspinner for businesses in Kerry. I want to thank the businesses of Kerry because they do it so much better than anywhere else. Our hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, bars and all the entities we have in tourism - our jarveys, boatmen and busmen - all do their work so professionally. That is why people keep coming back to Killarney. We have an issue, or the Government seems to have an issue, with Airbnbs. It is a great way for people in Kerry to bring business into our county because people come for that product. I think that for the person who owns a house, it should be their decision, and not the Government's decision, that they can use it whichever way they wants. Many people have been doing Airbnbs for over 20 years. Some of them have been at it for six or seven years. I will say to the Minister that all those who have been at it for more than seven years are entitled to keep at it. We need to further and better those people and ensure they continue in business.

I am happy to speak on the critical importance of the tourism and hospitality sector, particularly as we face mounting challenges that threaten thousands of jobs and the viability of businesses right across rural Ireland. In my own constituency of Offaly, tourism supports 2,200 jobs, so I stand firmly with Offaly hoteliers and the Irish Hotels Federation in their call for targeted Government intervention to protect this vital industry. As I stated earlier this year, we must deliver measures to safeguard the long-term sustainability of our local tourism economy. The sector is under severe pressure. Recent Central Statistics Office, CSO, labour force survey figures reveal a stark reality. Employment in food-led hospitality has plummeted by nearly 20,000 jobs over the past year, falling from 136,000 to 116,000. This represents a 14.7% decline. Wider hospitality employment has also dropped significantly, with businesses grappling with unsustainable cost increases, high insurance premiums, energy charges that are among the highest in Europe and growing consumer price sensitivity. I welcome the Government's decision to reintroduce the 9% VAT rate for food and catering services. This was certainly positive and necessary. However, a single measure alone will not be enough. The rising costs of doing business, from insurance and energy to regulatory burdens, continue to squeeze businesses. At the same time, increases in the cost of living are reducing disposal income for Irish consumers, making Ireland less competitive for international visitors.

I thank all the Members for their contributions and you can see by the varied nature and degree of contributions how important the tourism sector is for the Irish economy. It is our largest indigenous sector, with 228,000 people employed in it, which is about 300,000 people on an all-island basis. Some 46,000 businesses right across our country really offer that authentic céad míle fáilte and are central to delivering that product for an indigenous sector. That is why I really welcome the fact that tourism is now at the very heart of the Department of enterprise, reflecting the huge amount it brings to our economy, indigenous sector, employment and, indeed, careers, which will be a very important part of my new strategy, A New Era for Irish Tourism, which looks at growing career pathways in the tourism sector, particularly with our tertiary education partners. It will be important over the years ahead. I note from this year, 2026, that we have seen a significant uptick in visitor numbers. About 564,000 visitors completed a trip to Ireland in April 2026. That is up by about 7% on 2025 and 3% on 2024, which was a significant year for Irish tourism. I believe we are back in a growth phase. We have seen since the start of the year that we have grown visitor numbers and spend, which is so important. Through the sectoral plan, we have amassed about €400 million to support the growth of the sector, realising the ambition that many businesses have and working with sector representatives across the economy. Month after month, I hope we can work together to secure the ambition in A New Era for Irish Tourism, which is significant with regard to the growth we are planning and obviously have to realise, with a 7% target for less mature markets, and 6% and 7% targets, respectively, for overseas and domestic visitors, and try to grow our jobs from 228,000 to 250,000, which would be a significant ambition and challenge. I took a view when we were drafting A New Era for Irish Tourism that if you cannot measure something, you cannot manage it. That is why we now have key performance indicators over our 71 objectives in our new tourism plan. This is to ensure we are managing the actions of our State agency, Fáilte Ireland, and the work it does, and that we can measure that and see the output from the capital spend. That will be important. I will take a number of important actions this year. We will have a new culinary strategy. It is important that we bring together our distilleries, artisan food producers and the exceptional offering we have for food in this country. I note from some of the research coming through in markets in which we are under significant pressure, particularly European markets, that many have a very different view of the food offering in Ireland until they come here, taste it and see the huge offering and authenticity of the produce, and the exceptional, sustainable way we have of producing our food. People are so impressed. I want to draw that together with our distilleries, put together a solid package this year and develop a strategy to grow that sector. We will also come forward with an accommodation strategy. I note there are many counties in which viability is a significant question in trying to construct hotels and high-quality accommodation. We have the strategy open for public consultation right now. It will be important that we look at other ways in which the State can help to grow our accommodation, particularly the delivery of hotels. We know that in many towns and villages hotels are a focal point for many of he milestones in life. People share so many of their milestones in the setting of a family hotel. I am focused on working with the hotel sector to try to grow it and ensure we get more high-quality hotels in the country. A number of Deputies raised the matter of short-term lets. The Government is clear about the direction we are taking here. First of all, we know the sector has grown by about 10% per annum over the last number of years. It is very difficult to have a sector grow at that scale when there is no regulation underpinning it. It is clear to me, as tourism Minister, that a number of counties rely on short-term lets to capture the opportunity that tourism presents and bring life into many local communities. There are far too many counties in the midlands, on the west coast and south coast and in parts of the east coast where it is essential to have a viable short-term letting proposition to bring tourists in. I am focused on ensuring that, in our big cities, where there are acute shortages of accommodation in our long-term rental market, we bring that accommodation back into the long-term market, and that where we have areas with a population of less than 20,000, which we set as a reasonable metric in the most recent census, we can continue with strong short-term letting accommodation. We will provide a mechanism through the work we are doing and which we are finalising. It is important that people who are in that cohort continue to offer the operation they have. I am also working on areas that are part of the curtilage or premises, or, to put it quite simply, are not suitable for the long-term market. A bit of common sense is needed to ensure they can continue to operate in that regard. I have met representatives of all the short-term letting agencies. I have been very accessible. They were in Leinster House and I brought them to my Department. I met eight or nine representatives. I met a number of them in many different counties. We had a by-election recently in Galway, where I met many of them in Galway West. That is why I am clear that I want a balanced approach. We extended the registration period to the end of December, so people can regularise and the gun will not be to their head immediately. There will be a clear pathway for areas with populations of less than 20,000 to ensure that sector can continue. The last thing I want is to see communities where we need that accommodation miss out on that tourism opportunity. Equally, we have to be clear that, given the huge need for long-term rental accommodation and the huge challenge with homeless people in our society, the Government cannot stand idly by and allow a sector grow incrementally each year. When we see that in the cities accommodation is only utilised for three or four days a month, we have a real concern. That is why the needs of society and rural communities need to be balanced. As a member of a rural community, I know very well what is needed. Critically, with our accommodation strategy, we have reduced the number of hotels contracted out to the State very significantly. Some 13% of hotel accommodation was under State control. That has gone down to under 6%. We want to continue that progress so that those hotels come back into community use and are available for visitors and tourists alike. They can then use them and bring life back into the night-time economy, which is critical. I am committed to doing that as part of our tourism strategy. I should also mention our strategic air access fund. It supports new routes. We have about 23 routes to North America. When we get boots on the ground, we market it and drive the opportunity through to ensure we are capturing people coming into the country through those new routes. That will be critical. Later this year, Fáilte Ireland will bring forward a number of capital programmes that will look at how we are developing the 46,000 businesses in our country to capture the opportunity for tourism. People coming into our country do the vast majority of their research on the web. They use the Internet to research their bookings, to book and to look at what attractions are on offer. About 30% of people use generative AI to plan their itineraries. If there are attractions and a large numbers of events in communities which cannot be captured by those search engines, we have a real problem. That is why I want to drive digitalisation and supports into many of the businesses so that they get picked up in those searches, as well as supporting them with regard to viability and utility bills, which are challenging. Much work will be going on with businesses over the course of this year, with our new capital programmes and looking at our attractions. As Deputy Kelly pointed out, the spine of the country is critical. Much work has been done with the Wild Atlantic Way and coastal areas, but the spine of the country and our less mature markets need a lot of attention. Our tourism plan will be looking at how we can develop the centre of the country, from north to south, to ensure that all communities around the country get to experience the opportunity and value that tourism brings, and what it brings to our rural communities. I pointed out earlier the number of jobs in the tourism sector, at 228,000. I want to continue to grow the North-South link, which we will work on through our shared island programme. Deputies will have seen Fermanagh come into Ireland's Hidden Heartlands, the work on Narrow Water bridge, Carlingford Lough and all the other areas that can be expanded. We also have the causeway coastal route linking with the Wild Atlantic Way. There is a huge opportunity ahead. We will do our best to ensure we chart this sector through an uncertain geopolitical landscape. I am well aware that there is an opportunity for Ireland because what we have to offer has never been greater.