Ms Mary Stack:

In such circumstances, perhaps I will focus on one point. I refer to the issue of sailing and the necklace of marinas to which Deputy Ó Cuív referred. We have just completed a review of marine and berthing facilities throughout Ireland. This review was undertaken on our behalf by some marine consultants and it is just about to be published. The purpose of the review is to try to unlock some of the debate that is taking place in respect of marine tourism.

At the time we felt the issue of marinas had skewed the entire debate and we wanted to crack this nut. We undertook research with a view to seeing what exactly is on the ground and, most importantly, what the visitor seeks. We wanted to establish from where the demand and presumed demand is coming. We were aware of the proposal for the necklace of marinas.

The survey indicated approximately 5,200 berthing facilities exist around the country in approximately 50 marinas. This does not cover swing moorings. Approximately 15% of these berthing facilities are available for visitors. After identifying what was available, we tried to identify from where the perceived demand was coming, which has never been identified by policymakers. The report found that perhaps the idea of a necklace of marinas is a little premature until demand has been identified. One must come from the presumption that the consumer requires it and that there is a demand for it before such expensive infrastructure is developed. In the past, people probably had the idea that a marina must be big, but the report found that a marina does not have to have 250 berths. There are a number of different ways to develop this type of infrastructure, such as pontoons and swing moorings, depending on what the consumer is looking for, which should be what leads it.

International best practice was examined and the report concluded that perhaps we need to expand our view of who the sailing visitor is and could be. The view that it is somebody who sails a boat to Ireland and moors here will never unlock significant potential for Ireland. Following a model successfully used in Scotland, the report identified three types of visitors, namely, those who berth here on an annual basis and fly in from overseas, those who charter a boat on arrival in Ireland - an area which the report considers to have significant potential but which has not yet been identified, and those who sail to Ireland and cruise in certain areas - an area where the least amount of potential lies for Ireland. An examination of these three types of consumers must consider not only project and infrastructure investment but also clustering. Clustering is where businesses in the areas surrounding marinas and berthing facilities come together to offer the experience we referred to earlier. People want things to see and do when they get off their boats. They must feel part of a destination. Work must also be done on developing infrastructure, as I mentioned, and on marketing. An integrated marketing solution is required which targets a much wider audience than sailors and sells Ireland as an experience and somewhere one can sail to or around. Without these there will be little impact. The key issue is to unlock where demand comes from and what the target markets are, which is something that has not been done. We are conducting research on a number of activities, including sailing, and we hope to have results which will lead the debate.