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

As the Chairman will probably know, we have a particular problem in the Phoenix Park, where there are capacity problems. There are throngs of people on some days and we are getting complaints about social distancing and other problems, which leads to its own difficulties. There is a challenge for OPW-associated parks in the main. We want people to come in and use them during Covid and to enjoy them, but it is leading to issues with social distancing and one-way traffic issues. The commissioners and park attendants are mindful to see how we will manage this going forward. If our national monuments reopen, which I hope they will, we will have to manage this. As well as that, we are conscious that if there is a reopening, we want to give something back to people staycationing with regard to charging admission to such amenities, as we did last year. If we do that, that too will lead to capacity problems, so the volume of people at Kilkenny Castle this year will increase dramatically on last year, which will lead to its own issues.