Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a few other points to make. In relation to tourism, I want to put on the record my compliments to Paddy Mathews and the whole team at Ireland's Hidden Heartlands. I do not want to start naming names because I will leave somebody out if I do. For us, as a tourism committee and a voluntary committee, in conjunction with the local authority, we have significant engagement with the brand. A member of the team, Gráinne now attends our meetings on a regular basis and works with us. There is a very good relationship there. The team has done a lot of work to promote the midlands, in particular. A number of years ago, we felt that we were being left behind and that we did not have a brand. Signs were being put up advertising Ireland's Ancient East, despite the fact that we were 90 miles away from the coast, which drove me mad. I am delighted that we got the project across the line and we got the support to make sure we have our own dedicated brand, so much so that in recent years, other areas and counties that were not part of the brand have wanted to become part of it. That is a good and positive sign. We only have to look at the numbers, which I think are only going to increase, particularly in respect of the Royal Canal, a project that I was involved in when we stared developing that whole section. Now the greenway extends as far as Maynooth, and it will finish coming into Spencer Dock. I think it will become a destination activity for people to do, like the Camino de Santiago. Our intention was always to try to get people to walk it in three days, cycle it in two days and run it in one. I have mixed that up, but it is something that people can do. It is up to us to have the facilities in place for businesses to grow. In the last 12 months, I have seen a number of coffee shops opening up on all the walks we have developed. There are probably five or six small businesses going purely beside trails and walks that we have developed and have been funded. There are huge opportunities for us going forward. We welcome all the support. We will lobby hard and press as hard as we can to get that investment.

I will finish on the issue of the hotel industry. Ms Fitzgerald Kane, Ms Campbell and Mr. Fenn have been in with us a number of times and have set out the case for tourism. They won the support of the committee for the 9% VAT rate, which I was fully supportive of. I am sure it has been mentioned that there are still some hotels that are not playing ball. I booked something in the west of the country the other night. I will not mention the name of the hotel, but I got a fantastic deal for three nights, including bed and breakfast, in a hotel with a leisure centre for five-hundred-and-something euro. Good value is available out there. I tell people to shop around and stay and holiday in Ireland. We have a beautiful country and we need to make sure that we support it, and support the jobs in the industry.

I note that we have been struggling to get people to work in the industry. The witnesses will have found that. I still think that we need a dedicated tourism and hospitality centre. The only course in hospitality and the culinary arts is provided in Kerry. Before that there were courses run in Killybegs and Cathal Brugha Street. We do not have any dedicated centre for training. We need to invest in something in the midlands or this area to cover this half of the country and to help to create careers for people who want to work in the area. If we do that, linking in to some of the third level institutions and getting more people choosing tourism and hospitality as a career, I think we will find a ready stream of people to work in the industry. I thank the witnesses for coming in today. I have gone over time.