Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Sure, and I appreciate that for the Minister, it is not ideological. However, I ask him to bear in mind that for me and for many others, it is. There is no right or wrong to it; it simply is.

The next question is probably for Ms Fitzpatrick. I am glad the company is being reconfigured. I learned a lot through the debate regarding what was and what was not working within Coillte, as well as that we did not appear to be getting much of a return from our trees. When the reconfiguration is being considered, I wish to emphasise a point that is highly relevant to Wicklow, which is that the tourism and public value potential is massive. I will provide a brief anecdote. A few months ago, I picked up a load of Belgian tourists going over the Sally Gap. They told me they had flown directly from Belgium, had got on a bus in Dublin airport and had gone straight out to walk a good portion of the Wicklow Way. They told me that while they have walked all over the world, in Chile and all sorts of places, they had never encountered an area that was so spectacular for tourism and walking but which had such little infrastructure. They observed that anywhere else one might go around the world, cabins and service sites are made available and such locations will be advertised. The group only found out about Wicklow, Ireland, Coillte and all that by accident. Consequently, I believe there is a huge opportunity to create an infrastructure. This is partly the responsibility of Coillte and probably should be a joint venture with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and so on but certainly, much of the route goes through Coillte lands. I emphasise I believe there is huge potential to build a tourism walking and cycling infrastructure.