Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The value of sterling was part of the reason many people found Ireland to be a cost-effective holiday. It certainly would have been a factor in people deciding to come here but we should not see as the sole reason. It was useful to us that a cohort of people living in Britain came here for their holidays, possibly for the first time. We need to deepen that relationship not only from the point of view of them looking at the cost of the holiday but also in terms of what the visit offers them.

With regard to cultural tourism, I was surprised by the extent of the feedback on the investment in the areas of arts, heritage and culture, which was a factor in people coming here. I am sure analysis has been done on the return on that investment, so even though we are discussing the budget, we should not assume that people will only make a decision to come here based on economic grounds. We should start looking beyond that to areas that will encourage them to come here. We will always be prone to swings in that regard, which will probably occur at the wrong time, unless we look beyond that. Arts and culture are a very big factor and we should see them as more than just an after-thought but rather as areas that are central to this particular sector.

In terms of the film industry, when President Michael D. Higgins was Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, great benefit flowed from the effort that was put into the film industry because people saw the images. It was a marketing tool in its own right and demonstrates what I am trying to say.

One of the other issues is the preferential 9% VAT rate, which I do not believe was entirely necessary. I do not believe there is a way of doing it other than universally applying it.

It would be nice to have that as a benefit now to act as a counterbalance but we do not have it. I am not sure the 9% is a very clever idea in terms of some sectors. For example, the fast food sector benefits from the 9% VAT rate, whereas we would be far better to collect the full VAT from it and reinvest it into the arts and culture sector, which would give a return. Is that something the Minister would consider?

Not all of the country could be said to be in the same position. I take the point that was made about areas outside major urban centres. A different approach is probably needed in different parts of the country. I am not sure a very localised approach works, having experienced it at local government level, because one has a very small budget and I am not sure the impact is that beneficial. A more regional approach is likely to give a better return. We must stop thinking small in terms of appealing to people and having borders that are almost irrelevant. People who come from other countries do not notice when they move from Dublin into Kildare or from Meath into Louth. We must start to think the way tourists think. We must think bigger in terms of the return on marketing. I would be interested to hear the Minister’s thinking in that regard.

I will be slightly cheeky given that I was at another meeting but could I ask the Minister about the swimming pool programme, which was commenced earlier this year? Only two pool applications were deemed to be valid. The one that was considered an outlier, that was expected to qualify, was a pool in north Kildare but the county council did not cover itself in glory in the application process. Is the grant still available if an application meets the criteria?