Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, when I was Minister for Tourism, obviously, we sort of looked at a jaded tourism sector which had so much more potential than it was actually achieving. In the course of, you know, travelling throughout the country, you came across particular areas that were clearly in need of some sort of infrastructure investment. And people from all over the country, from particularly the coastal areas, said "Look, we're out here on a limb. This place is falling asunder. You've got to do something to stimulate investment so that we can have a product that people will want to come and enjoy and therefore, you know, be able to contribute to the economy." And we discussed that at some length, as to what might happen, and the decision was that there should be a pilot scheme introduced in a small number of areas. That was expanded to include 15. It was done on the basis of the district electoral divisions as determined by the local authorities. It was different now than the, you know, the urban sort of renewal scheme, which was a much smaller scale. I have to say that the response was one that was assessed. I think it generated about €700 million or €800 million worth of work in terms of infrastructure, construction and so on. I would say that some of the towns which were designated, Senator, took this in a far broader way than others. Some, where their hotels went after the scheme and provided facilities for, you know, a much broader range of tourist coming in, whether it be pools or whatever else, some areas did better than others. But I think it generated about €600 million to €700 million and ended, I think, then in 1999. And no more than the case that was raised earlier, there were planning problems with some of these, so where people entered into the scheme that if they had gone beyond a certain point of, you know, a contract being signed or building under way, it was allowed to finish its course. But the reason for the case in the first instance was because many of these communities said "Look, we are really stranded here, we have a jaded product, there's a clear need for some infrastructure investment", and so that kind of pilot scheme was designed and put in place. And so, you know, the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Environment and Local Government, Finance, Bord Fáilte, Shannon Development, they all put the details together and obviously there were meetings held in the locations that were chosen, from financial people about how they, how the scheme would actually work. So it was assessed and I suppose there was a qualifying relief and the tax foregone in that scheme, I think, was about €250 million altogether.