Mr. Paul Keeley:

I will begin by linking the issues of regional spread, season extension and diversifying the risk from the British marketplace. A pretty holistic response is taken to this and Mr. Quinn has already alluded to it. The first thing we had to try to do was to better inform the international consumer and the international buyer about different flavours of Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East and Dublin give three very distinct flavours of Ireland and they have given buyers and consumers a much better sense of what they are being asked to opt into. We work with Tourism Ireland's teams on marketing these regional propositions on international markets, most specifically in Europe but also in Great Britain because notwithstanding Brexit it is too big a marketplace to just walk away from. Even in the fourth quarter of this year, part of Fáilte Ireland's industry budget will be spent through the Tourism Ireland team in the Great Britain marketplace to make sure we stay vigilant.

Approximately 65% of hotel bed nights sold are in the domestic marketplace. A big challenge we have is working with industry throughout the country to get it geared up to sell internationally. For small businesses in particular, the complexity and international distribution challenges can be a bit overwhelming. We work with businesses on the type of consumer the business is best suited to, the markets they are best focused on and the distribution channels which serve them best with regard to getting access to those markets. A big stream of work for us is working with them on their ability to gear up and deal professionally with international buyers to ensure we are gearing up more and more businesses to get active internationally.

We have a team that works with these businesses. If we work with businesses on the ground to develop new products and get people out of the traditional hubs, then we must give the international consumer and the international buyer a reason to go to them. Through the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East and Dublin we are working on the ground with small businesses to develop new products and new experiences. We work with them to get these onto the international shop shelf, for want of a better term. We work through the market teams and international distribution channels to secure distribution for new products. This includes products such as the Wild Atlantic Way. This year, we have worked with six groups of industry to develop a seasonal offering that will take us into the winter shoulder and earlier in the spring, but there is little point in bringing out the businesses to work on developing these products if we cannot get them carried by international buyers. We also take on this work.

It is a full circle of developing new products and new experiences, getting the products to the marketplace, getting more businesses active internationally, building better relationships with international distributors and, last but not least, trying to dial up the advertising tap so if the product is available we begin to create consumer awareness and draw it through. If we can do this, it is how we will start to generate regional spread. I can cite any amount of anecdotes about small businesses which perhaps were struggling to get access to the international marketplace but, by virtue of being able to plug into the three brands, have been able to give the international buyer a reason to pull into their site and attraction. We have seen this in terms of businesses which were part-time and have gone full-time and businesses with two or three people which have added an additional two or three people. This piece is working. It is about getting regional and seasonal spread and diversifying across a number of key markets.

A specific question was asked about the lakelands and we are quite excited about this. It has the potential to be the fourth brand. As Deputy Troy correctly picked up, we have appointed a consortium to work with us on the project and we have a good mix of skills. We do not believe the answer is just marketing. An agency will work with us on brand and product development and an economic consultant will also work with us on this. Almost inevitably, we will arrive at a product deficit and we will need to make the case for investment. Having a sound economic argument to back it up will be important. We also have RedC on board as part of the consortium to work with us to ensure whatever we do is researched thoroughly with the international consumer and international buyer to ensure whatever we bring forward we can have the confidence it has being robustly researched and will stand up in the marketplace. Specifically, we are looking at the area that lies between Ireland's Ancient East and the Wild Atlantic Way. We are working from 30 km east of the Wild Atlantic Way to 10 km east of the Shannon. All the counties in Ireland's Ancient East and to the east of the Shannon are being included in the current scope of work.

The starting point is not geography or naming or branding. The starting point has to be what this part of the world has in terms of product that can excite the international buyer. The challenge we are set is that it needs to be comparable or better than what is available from the Wild Atlantic Way or Ireland's Ancient East. We must have a product that is of interest to the consumer. We must then figure out how to position it and make it attractive and exciting from the perspective of an international buyer. From there, we will move to branding and naming solutions. All this is within the scope of work, and we are due to have the final set of recommendations for the project by the end of March next year.