Mr. Padraig Cribben:

I wish to take up a couple of points made by Deputy McEntee on food. I am well aware of the Taste of Meath festival. Food is not for every pub. We have got to be careful abut this because it is not a panacea. What we have at this time is a great food offering in many pubs and in excess of 50% of pubs provide food. Unless one provides something unique or has footfall, food will accelerate the demise in certain places if it is not thought out properly. It is not for all pubs but, certainly, it is a growing part of the business. In that respect, we are facilitating courses and knowledge dissemination to our members right across the country. The Deputy asked what is happening for next year in respect of tourism and getting the message out there. I come back to an issue that irks us somewhat; that is done primarily by Fáilte Ireland but as I said earlier, for some reason it would appear that the pub trade is persona non grata in that sector. We do not seem to have any level of input or representation. We have made that clear to successive Ministers. I do not know whether it is at agency level or ministerial level but one beats one's head off the wall so often and suddenly one notices there is a lump in the head and one stops beating it. That is where we are at.