Mr. Paul Kelly:

The national development plan has been revised and we are still in discussions with the Department about that. We do not have full clarity on the matter but there seem to be significantly more challenges in terms of the amount of capital funding that will be available for tourism development. Long-term capital projects, developments such as the National Famine Museum at Strokestown House to which Senator Murphy referred and which will open this year, and the one Senator Carrigy referred to in Westport House, are essential to continue to develop the quality of offering we have in Ireland. They rely on an ongoing level of capital funding. The return on investment to the State and to the Exchequer on those projects is phenomenal. They all involve significant returns. We do not do anything that does not deliver a significant return on investment. Those returns include economic returns, tax returns and the creation of jobs etc. They are important. We still do not have clarity around the long-term funding. Capital projects and pipelines cannot be turned on and off. One needs to know now how much will be available to spend in three, four and five years' time. We signed off on the investment for Westport House last year but the big investment in that regard will not begin until next year because it takes that long to get through the planning process and do all the design work etc. As these things take a long time, it is important for the long-term development of tourism that the capital pipeline is retained. It has been good in recent years but that may be challenged under the revised national development plan. We are still working with the Department to try to get clarity. It is important that the level of capital investment by the Government remains in place for tourism on a basis that can be planned for. We need to know what is going to be there in 2026, 2027 and 2028. We need to know that now in order that we can keep bringing those projects on stream. That is very important.

We ran our biggest trade event, Meitheal, in Killarney last week. We brought in 200 overseas buyers to meet 400 representatives of Irish industry. We discover things every time we engage with those buyers and new initiatives, such as those in Westport House, the National Famine Museum in Strokestown Park, new greenways and the new blueway we launched yesterday in Meath, are important to keep that long-term pipeline coming along. We desperately need an ongoing capital commitment from Government to keep bringing those initiatives along.