Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for their presentations, which have been very positive for Ireland going forward. They articulated the reasons quite well in their presentations. I have a few comments to make and questions to ask.

I agree the Wild Atlantic Way is proving very popular and, coming from the south east, I would welcome it if it was replicated there. We have a lot to offer there but it is a matter of putting it together and a little bit of joined-up thinking. We could have our own Wild Atlantic Way in the south east.

We discussed Ireland's value for money rating as a tourist destination and trying to shake off that "Rip-off Ireland" tag. The fact the domestic market is flat was mentioned. Ireland can be very expensive for Irish holidaymakers. The price of some hotel rooms has gone up quite a lot over the past six months. What initiatives are we working on to ensure that it is cost-effective for families to holiday at home?

I refer to the €1 million local government fund to support local communities. How can that fund be accessed and what is it to be spent on? Will the delegates elaborate on that?

I refer to the development of digital marketing, which is extremely important. Nowadays everybody goes on the Internet to see where they are going or what they will do. The delegates mentioned that they were driving a programme of digital insight development and that there was huge investment in social media. Have they looked at smart cameras? Perhaps they will tell us a little about that?

Has the flooding we experienced around our coastline earlier this year had an impact? I am sure some people have gone on the Internet and decided Ireland would be a lovely holiday destination because they saw a lovely boardwalk to walk on. Is it possible that they may arrive to find the boardwalk has been washed away and that they are not getting what they thought they were getting? Has the flooding had such an impact?

The delegates mentioned that The Gathering was a huge success, possibly attracting 250,000 extra visitors. However, we have some problems attracting repeat visitors to Ireland. Do we have enough visitor attractions to attract repeat visitors? What are we doing to address that?