Mr. Michael Cawley:

This accounts for 75% of all the activity among the five activities in the park. We need to spread that. It is a fantastic facility. I have been there myself many a time as I have lived in Athlone.

The Senator is correct about the accommodation. Fáilte Ireland is talking to private operators to tell them our plans to ensure they have the confidence to invest. They will know we have done our research in the domestic and international market and know what people want. We will bring people there. We will work with a local group to market their facility, design a website, revenue manage rates and so forth. Then we will get the private sector to invest in that modestly to start with and then build it up. We are not going to build a hotel ourselves but we will do everything to support it with the private sector. The example of that is not just here in Dublin but across the country. Cork has had a massive expansion of hotels. With places like Boyle, we would like to work with any private operator and give them the confidence about our plans for the region. Strokestown is near there and we are putting a lot of money into Strokestown House.

Center Parcs is not just for domestic users. There are people in the UK who go to Holland and Belgium to stay in Center Parcs because they want to experience the various parks. Center Parcs management wants to attract people from the UK into Ireland with their product. It is a fantastic product and I hear good things about it. There will be a large domestic catchment but there will be visitors as well. The Center Parcs model is that one must stay there and one’s car is taken away when one goes there. However, these visitors may check out the region too.

If there are people in the Boyle area interested in developing tourism, we would love to give them the confidence about what we are going to do and what we see is the potential for the region.