John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the context of preparing for the uplift of the Irish and global economies, Ms Nolan referred to building a new tower and runway at Dublin Airport. She also stated that by 2020 the level of traffic at the airport will have returned to 2008 levels. I met the CEO of Tourism Ireland earlier today and he painted a very positive picture with regard to the number of tourists visiting Ireland. He suggested that the number of tourists visiting the country will return to the levels which obtained in 2007 and 2008 within a couple of years. Two or three years ago there was a great deal of criticism regarding the construction of Terminal 2 and the fact that it was under-utilised at that point as a result of falling tourist numbers. Obviously, the terminal will see good use in the very near future. The other point the CEO of Tourism Ireland made is that there is a kind of three-tier development of the tourism product in Ireland. Dublin represents the first tier in this regard. It is doing very well but there is a danger that it might again become a tipping point because there are not enough hotel rooms available in the city. The second tier comprises Galway, Limerick, Cork, etc., while outlying rural areas comprise the third tour. There are many tourist attractions in the latter areas which are not benefiting at all from recent developments.

I am not suggesting that the new tower at Dublin Airport should not be built and neither am I contradicting Ms Nolan's view. Tourist numbers dropped in the past as a result of the recession and the fact that Ireland was no longer competitive because prices had gone through the roof. It appears that this could be happening again, particularly in Dublin where there is a shortage of hotel rooms.

Is there a danger of another bubble that will, in the long term, cause problems for tourism in particular as well as traffic? Is there a strategy to spread the numbers visiting the country across the regional airports, thereby ensuring an even spread of development?