Mr. Eoghan O'Mara Walsh:

I will let Ms Fitzgerald Kane and others comment on this aspect, but briefly, I agree with the Senator. If we have an over-reliance on the tourism accommodation stock, then this is extremely negative. In the ITIC report mentioned by Mr. Ó Lionáin, we have advocated that tourism accommodation providers should play their part and are prepared to play their part, but only in the region of 12% to 15% of tourism accommodation stock should be allocated for humanitarian reasons. The rest should be put back into the tourism economy.

This is not in the gift of hotels or the tourism industry. This must come from on high. We have argued for an approach led by the Department of the Taoiseach to this issue because it is so serious a crisis that a whole-of-government response is required. A humanitarian plan regarding how refugees and asylum seekers will be housed over a two-year period needs to be published. It should contain metrics and milestones, including the percentage of beds in tourism accommodation units per county or region. The plan needs to be this clear. Otherwise, too many tourism beds will be taken up and it will be concentrated in some areas. This will mean real economic woe for those areas, with tourist attractions, retail outlets, cafés etc. going out of business as a result of this situation. This crisis will pass, even though it may be years away.

When it does pass, it will be very difficult to rebuild that infrastructure and make it fit for the tourism season. There will not be things to see and do for tourists in particular towns. Thus, tourists will not go there. We are storing up considerable problems for ourselves unless we really rectify the situation. I have considerable concerns about our sleepwalking into a tourism crisis next summer.