Mr. Shaun Quinn:

I thank the Vice Chairman. While my colleagues can add to my comments, when I stated the Irish and British markets were the largest, I was trying to put it into context in that although they are indeed the largest markets, they are not growing at all. This accentuates the challenge for the trade as to make up for the downturn at home and in Britain, quite a lot of work must be done in some of the other markets. However, as Mr. Peter Nash has indicated, and he will elaborate in respect of Tourism Ireland's strategy in Britain, there are opportunities within the British market. However, while the extent to which we can get back to the position that obtained previously remains an open question, some opportunities certainly exist there. The Vice Chairman is quite right that tourism is experiencing a multi-speed recovery to the extent that some parts of the country are way out in front. Dublin is out in the lead, driven largely by conferences, festivals and events rather than by leisure. It is followed by the other larger urban centres such as Galway, Kilkenny, Cork and Killarney and the third phase pertains to the more rurally-based operations, some of which may not be experiencing any recovery because they are heavily reliant on a domestic market that is not growing at present or perhaps they have not had the opportunity to tap into some of the international business. Consequently, the Vice Chairman is quite right; it is very hazardous to generalise at present because not everyone is experiencing the rising tide. However, our hope is this will happen.