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

I did not get a positive response, unfortunately. I got an acknowledgment all right but I suspect mine was one of 1 million e-mails sent to the BBC that day. Perhaps the tourism organisations would have a bit more weight than a humble Deputy from south Kerry. I ask that they would follow up on that because it would be an excellent opportunity for us and would constitute free advertising.

I hold constituency clinics in places like Dingle, Killarney and Kenmare, and in the winter time there is a serious drop in visitor numbers, despite the fact that local communities do their best to organise events and activities that will attract visitors. I have always believed that Ireland has as much, if not more, to offer in the winter months than in the peak summer season. I note that Scotland has been aggressively marketing itself as a winter tourism destination in recent years. Indeed, such is the success of the campaign that I went there myself to see what is on offer, and while I was impressed, I believe we have as much, if not more, to offer. More could be done to try to boost our winter tourism performance, thus creating sustainable employment throughout the year, particularly outside Dublin.

Deputy Coffey referred to return visitors and I remember reading recently that we are not performing as well other comparable markets, such as Scotland, in this regard. How can we improve that? I love talking to tourists and will do so whenever I meet them in Killarney, Killorglin or elsewhere, to get their feedback. I have very rarely met anyone who was not happy here and who was not having a good experience, and yet we are not getting as many return visits as we could be. How do we deal with that issue because it does not seem to be based on a satisfaction deficit? What is the problem and how can we do better in that regard?

I wish to acknowledge the proactive approach to developing greenways. I travelled the Westport to Achill greenway last year and it is fantastic. It has had an enormous impact on the local economy and is very impressive. I am very excited about the development of the greenway from Glenbeigh to Reenard. An investment of almost €4 million over the next two years will enable the development of a world class greenway. It will be an iconic greenway and images of its way-covers, viaducts and tunnels will be on postcards, posted on Facebook and will travel the world. It will be something special and I acknowledge the vision in pursuing that project. I hope many more such projects will be undertaken. My vision for the future would be a national cycling network whereby one could get on a bike at the airport at Dublin, Knock, Cork or Kerry and cycle anywhere in the country without have to travel on a main road for very long. We should pursue such a vision.

There is huge potential in angling too. While many anglers visit Kerry, most have told me that more could be done for them. Are there any efforts being made to develop a cruise industry here? There is no company currently offering an around Ireland cruise to the best of my knowledge, but we have the facilities in place and a coastline that could be travelled in a week to ten days. Could that be examined as a new product and as something that would showcase our coastline? There are many towns and villages along our coast which would fight for the opportunity to bring in cruise tourists.

On the subject of marketing, a number of years ago the US state of California used some very high-profile people to promote tourism, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rob Lowe and others. Could we look a doing something similar here? We certainly have numerous figures who would be well known and, more important, well liked internationally. Is consideration being given to an advertising campaign that might grab the attention of those who might never have paid attention to Ireland's tourism marketing message before?

I wish to mention an idea I had in the context of 2015 or, more realistically, 2016.

Building on the back of The Gathering which was a major success and which brought activity and a much-needed lift psychologically to nearly every community in the country, could we look at the idea of a home gathering, aimed at getting people to holiday at home in 2016? I know there is a campaign every year for people to holiday at home but could we make a massive effort to say to people that 2016 is the year that we holiday at home and organise events that would attract people to stay in the country? Is this an idea that could be looked at, given that we have a high level of overseas travel from Ireland each year? If we were to get 10% of the expenditure on overseas travel, it would come close to €1 billion, as I understand from research. Is this an idea that would be considered?