Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Cawley and thank him for a very comprehensive presentation. The figures for his time at Ryanair are very impressive, with passenger numbers increasing twentyfold. Of course he is under no pressure to do something similar for our visitor numbers. I hope we can get tourism back to 2007 levels as quickly as possible. When does Mr. Cawley envisage us getting back to those levels and surpassing them?

I come from a tourist county, Kerry. I acknowledge the importance of Government policy in helping our tourism industry, including scrapping the travel tax and the introduction of the 9% VAT rate, which is a very successful initiative. It represents a beacon for other sectors of the economy and we should try to apply it more widely across the economy. How can we ensure that the industry is passing that on to the consumer? The danger is that over time these things get absorbed back and the overall price may go back up again.

Obviously Mr. Cawley's experience in the aviation sector is very important. In a way the nature of holidaymaking has changed greatly because people are now going to where the flights take them. That is guiding many people in their choices of holiday destinations. Is there any potential conflict of interest in terms of his history and close association with Ryanair? That is not a personal remark in any way. I ask him to address concerns people might have in that regard.

As Ireland is an island, people can only come here by air or by sea. How does Mr. Cawley believe we can improve access to the country by sea, especially now that we have the Wild Atlantic Way and so many driving routes? What more can we do to bring in people by sea?