Mr. Shaun Quinn:

Deputy Coffey also raised two other points, the first of which was volunteer ambassadors. We wholly agree with having volunteer ambassadors as evidenced by The Gathering. We talk about marketing and big grants for events but the real power of The Gathering was what volunteers and communities did on the ground. We are finding this year when we are hosting meetings up and down the country on the Wild Atlantic Way, the local communities are coming out. The people are not necessarily in the tourist trade alone. I do not know to what extent tourism has been successful in the past in harnessing the power of volunteer ambassadors and I think it is an area in which we need to do much better. There are no two ways about that.

On the question of value for money surveys, these surveys are completed for us independently by third parties. We have a number of surveys that track value for money. I do not have the figures in front of me today, but in relation to value for money ratings for the German and the French markets, they are at their highest rating since we joined the euro. Even in Britain and North America, where there is a currency issue, and that can affect value for money, that has turned around and been quite positive. I can get the Deputy some specific details on those surveys.

Deputy Griffin raised the idea of having a home gathering campaign. Let me give some credit to the Irish punter. Since the downturn there has been quite a decline in the amount of money that Irish people are spending on holidays, but virtually all of that decline has been in overseas trips. The Irish punter has supported the tourism industry and it is important that it should be said.

As we said earlier in the discussion, we should not take our eyes off the ball. it is a very valuable market, it is €1 billion on our doorstep. It is not seasonal. It is a very long season. One of the concerns is that if the domestic market were to weaken, it weakens the shoulder, which in turn can weaken the investment that is made, as one would not be getting the great utilisation of the assets through the year. Jobs could be at risk. This is really important.

There were some issues around the Wild Atlantic Way or Greenway.