Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The performance measures I am concerned with are the number of people who come to festivals, the number of people who visit the country and the number of people who avail of the tourism product. That is the measurable outcome. It is very difficult to measure in parts of the country where the infrastructure is not in place. I have identified issues before on this. There is an in-built unfairness in how the current structure is managed because one will see the same old faces year in, year out getting a leg-up from the Department while new people in parts of the country where the infrastructure is not as developed are left out.

That is something that, on the basis of fairness, the Minister should look at when he has an opportunity. There is a measurable there. I stayed in Ireland this year on holidays and if one goes into a hotel, as I did in Donegal, and asks them what the difference is this year, they will say two things. The first is the 9% VAT rate, which has made a massive difference to them. The second is a very simple concept but something that has been hugely welcomed in that part of the country - the Wild Atlantic Way. A series of signposts has brought people, for example, from my part of the country, Limerick, into county Donegal where they might not have thought of holidaying before. It is a measurable outcome.

There are aspects of the tourism policy on which more could be done. There are areas that have mountains, the Ring of Kerry, lakes and fantastic scenery and there is a fantastic product there but there are other parts of the country with an equally good product which have difficulty in accessing the basic levels of support that the Department makes available through Fáilte Ireland.