Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and the Clifden railway line. The only reason work on the Mayo line was commenced first was because Mayo County Council grabbed the bait and ran with it. If a community does not want something one should move on to the next community that does want it. I am interested in hearing Mr. Pender's response on the structure issue. I do not always favour changes to structure but in this case there is logic in having rural recreation and marine leisure dealt with by one body. I do not care which Department takes responsibility for it. We should also have a comhairle na tuaithe and a comhairle na mara, both of which would develop the sector and bring all players around the table. When we previously did this in respect of rural recreation we achieved significant results in terms of access to walkways, mountains and so on. If the policy we had been pursuing had been continued some 80% of our mountains would now be mapped and opened up to people.

I am interested in hearing the delegates view on whether we should take a structural approach to this; if this should be recognised as a major growth industry and if we should have in place a comprehensive plan similar to that proposed in regard to marine development along the coast? I understand that in terms of marine leisure a necklace of areas is required as people want to keep moving on. In this regard, there is a need for a planned approach countrywide. I understand that had a planned approach been taken to this it could have been funded by the market, leaving State funding to areas further up the west coast and so on.

We all have a duty to our constituents. A particular aspect of tourism, in respect of which we already have open and closed facilities and which I understand can be quite lucrative, is flying club tourism. I understand there are a number of flying clubs on our neighbouring island which require somewhere to fly into. I recall being told by my local parish priest, who had bought a plane which he piloted between the islands, that the market for flying clubs on the west coast of Ireland, in terms of overnight stays, etc. was huge. If one supplied those involved with enough booze they could be kept there forever. This is not an activity that comes easily to mind. We have two completed and marked airstrips in Cleggan and Inishbofin which are far superior to those on the Aran Islands, which are owned by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and are not opened even for private flights despite that no air terminals, fire engines and so on are required. This to me appears to be a waste of resources. This is just another of the hidden gems we have from archaeology to trails, railways lines, mills, lighthouses and so on that are a huge fascination to tourists and make up for the lack of sunshine here. I am interested in hearing if the delegates believe this to be another potential source of tourism.