Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I thank the Cathaoirleach. My apologies because I am a little bit hoarse today but I did want to get into the committee. I will focus my questions, if the Minister does not mind, on the tourism sector, because we had a presentation from the Irish Hotels Federation, IHF, recently and a couple of points were made in that discussion. I just want to tie it in and get the Minister's feedback on them. One is on our potential as a conference destination. given that a lot of hotels such as, for example, Citywest in my constituency, have been repurposed as IPAS and Ukrainian accommodation. Have there been talks with ministerial colleagues on having specific dedicated accommodation that would free up hotels? A lot of Ireland's potential as a destination has been diminished because of the lack of availability of large-scale conference centres. Is this being looked at over the next, say, five years as part of a rolling plan?

In terms of our unique selling points, one issue that has been raised before is Ireland as a clean, green destination. While there are grants available to hotels to improve their insulation and provide a much more carbon-neutral service, that does not come from Fáilte Ireland. It comes from a totally different Department. Is there scope for more tie-in in terms of ring-fencing specific targeted grants? At the moment the SEAI has a business grant that hotels have applied for successfully but there should be something for the specific sector that maybe a bit more joined-up thinking could be looked at.

It has been mentioned before and it is a bit of a hoary old chestnut but I want to raise the issue of the expansion of the season. This is more of a question than a recommendation. How successful has the marketing of St. Brigid's Festival been in attracting tourists so far and what are the projections for it? Another point discussed with the Irish Hotels Federation related to Ireland's rainy nature. If we are trying to diversify through the seasons, there are different times of the year that are more rainy than others. There is very little to do outdoors when it is pelting down. Have there been any discussions with other sectors about covering over more areas, both for very sunny days and for very rainy days on key streets in key tourist destinations? That would be a game changer for the night-time economy. If people were able to sit outdoors in more areas it would attract more tourists into our historic centres.