Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Has there been an economic assessment of the change? Clearly, many of the representations made raise concerns about its potentially negative impact on the tourism sector and certain commercial sectors which have an involvement in car leasing. There has been a large amount of advertising of the notion of fly drive holidays in Ireland, particularly in the west in the context of the development of the Wild Atlantic Way and where the tourism industry is significant. Prior to this arrangement being introduced by, I believe, former Deputy Ruairí Quinn, there were periods when it was almost impossible to hire cars because of how the arrangements in place at the time worked.

Prices also soared. This arrangement has stood the test of time, including periods when the tourism business advanced. To everyone's delight, tourism along the west coast, which inevitably includes a long car drive, is thriving. Has the Minister done an economic assessment of the likely impact of the measure? Has he had discussions with the sector about the flow of cars? As the Minister knows, we are a little in the dark about how Brexit will roll out. We are, therefore, in a transitory period for the economy. Has the Minister had an opportunity to do have an economic assessment done and, if so, will he share the outcome with members? This is an issue where "do no harm" should be a watchword in the context of all the other uncertainties that we face.