Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Griffin mentioned, we are investing millions in developing a national network of greenways. One is about to open connecting Dublin to Galway city by, it is hoped, 2025. A lot of that tourism activity will be directed towards the hidden heartlands, a large region of the midlands of Ireland which has received little or no tourism investment or revenue in my lifetime. There is no question but that the kind of people who have farms along the route of those greenways and across the country are being presented with an extraordinary opportunity to showcase what they have to offer.

As Mr. Nolan said, this will lead to a tentative dipping a toe into a business, seeing whether it will work and whether someone will generate something interesting that will generate a trickle-down effect in the local community. We need to be exceptionally careful that we do not suppress that kind of spontaneity. This is a critical moment in the development of the tourism business in rural Ireland and we need to get it right. It is as simple as that.