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

I am glad to be able to address the committee today on the impact of Brexit on tourism and sport.

The feedback from tourism industry participants at several sectoral dialogues in January reaffirmed the Government's analysis of the implications of Brexit. The Minister and I attended those dialogues. As a Government and Department, we are committed to an ongoing dialogue with the tourism and hospitality industry as the Brexit negotiations proceed. The tourism leadership group will meet again in the coming weeks, on 6 July. That group represents the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, and representatives of the industry. Brexit has featured and will feature prominently in the discussions.

For tourism, the priority issues for the Government are preserving the common travel area, avoiding a hard border on the island, minimising the impact of Brexit on the tourism industry, and maintaining a liberalised aviation regime to protect and promote access, something we have all become accustomed to with the common aviation policies across the EU. The decline in visitor numbers from Britain is of concern and reflects feedback we have been getting from our Irish industry partners with some softening in bookings from Britain. Following what was a record year for overseas visitors to the island of Ireland and to this jurisdiction in particular in 2016, recent figures published by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, showed that overseas visitors from February to April 2017 were slightly up on 2016. While there was strong growth from the North American market, up by 25.7%, visitors from Britain were down 10.7% year on year.

The sterling depreciation following the Brexit referendum has made Ireland, and every other eurozone country, more expensive for British travellers than was the case previously. Furthermore, research has indicated that British consumers are likely to scale back on overseas holiday activity this year. Much of our research is based on work that Tourism Ireland is doing in the market. The tourism action plan is committed to seeking to restore the tourism marketing fund to pre-recession levels on a phased basis. Budget 2017 increased funding for the tourism marketing fund and the Minister and I will be seeking further additional funding for next year in order to mitigate any negative effects of Brexit on tourism particularly in the British market.

Maintaining the overall competitiveness in our tourism industry is also vital at this time. While the industry acknowledges its primary responsibility in this regard, I will be endeavouring to assist by seeking to maintain the lower value added tax, VAT, rate for the tourism industry and to keep the air travel tax at zero. It would be helpful if the committee would add its support to this endeavour. Tourism Ireland will continue to focus on protecting our market share in Britain, while at the same time seeking to increase diversification into other markets, particularly those that deliver higher tourism revenue. We are focussing particularly not only on North America but also northern Europe. Fáilte Ireland is working on a number of fronts to assist the diversification and development of our tourism industry and the attractiveness of our tourism product offering through current and capital expenditure. Work is ongoing to develop the main experience brands, including the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East, and to enhance visitor experiences aimed at boosting our appeal to key target markets and priority consumer segments. Some Deputies have mentioned other areas of the country in the Dáil and in this committee. Fáilte Ireland hopes to produce a report on that soon, particularly in respect of the lakelands which have been mentioned at this committee. Fáilte Ireland offers a suite of supports to enhance the competitiveness, enterprise capability and sustainability of the tourism sector. It is creating a new Brexit response programme that will focus on delivering a capability building programme for the industry.

The response to Brexit must come from the whole tourism sector, and not just from central Government and the agencies. It must include local authorities. I was delighted recently to launch each of the local authority tourism strategies at a tourism conference which the Department facilitated in Enniscorthy, County Wexford. In the overall picture, there is good performance in numbers of visitors from other markets, particularly North America. There is still strong sentiment in the industry as per Fáilte Ireland's tourism barometer published on 25 May, notwithstanding the fall-off from Great Britain and to a lesser degree from Northern Ireland. We have to be cautious about the road ahead for the tourism industry given the risks arising from Brexit. Challenging negotiations will be monitored closely by the Department and the tourism agencies.

Turning briefly to sport, the impact of Brexit is still subject to considerable uncertainty. Anything that would impair or impede the free movement of athletes, sports people, their sports equipment, or indeed their animals, in the case of equestrian events, for example, has a potential to present logistical difficulties that do not currently exist. Sport Ireland is engaging particularly with this issue.

We are very conscious of the importance of cross-Border co-operation with Northern Ireland in the area of sport. Some 45 of our national sports governing bodies operate on an all-island basis, which represents about 70% of the total number of such bodies. Officials from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport meet on a regular basis with their counterparts in Northern Ireland. There is ongoing discussion between my Department and Sport Ireland to this end also. There is extensive and effective dialogue on topics of mutual interest relating to sport, and this engagement will continue. It is best represented by the bid for the Rugby World Cup 2023, and by the preparations for the Women's Rugby World Cup, which will take place later this year. Through our contacts with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland and with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in London, we have effective mechanisms already in place to monitor the impact of Brexit on the sporting landscape in Ireland. For the benefit of the committee, I wish to note that I and my officials have met my British counterpart, Tracey Crouch, M.P. We travelled to London to meet her in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum and are due to have further engagement with her Department and with stakeholders from the tourism and sport sectors in Britain in the coming weeks.

I will be happy to answer any questions.