Mr. Jerome Casey:

The Chairman asked about the cost base of Irish tourism and whether having more volunteers involves sacking staff. The answer is no. What happens when one has a high cost base, as we have in tourism, is that all one can do is market-skimming. One cannot put on the market low-cost products, as one could do if the cost base were lower, by using volunteers. Let me give an example. Last year the Dublin tourism authority decided it would have to close the Joyce Tower in Sandycove. The funds from entry charges were not sufficient to pay the salary of the curator and the iconic tower was closed. I wrote to the then manager of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Mr. Eoin Keegan, suggesting that if the tower was in Scotland, one would have an army of Joyce readers who would be helping out on a voluntary basis. He took this on board and organised a meeting. At present the Joyce Tower is being curated by an army of volunteers. The opening hours are longer and it is more convenient for people. There is still a professional input from the tourism body, but it is not a direct cost input from the tourism body. Coming back to my earlier point, there are twice as many small tourist attractions in Scotland as we have in Ireland. That is exactly what happens there.

More generally, I acknowledge that The Gathering was very successful. Unless it remains like a pop-up restaurant, we must put in place some funding and establish local tourist organisations that can respond to local need and opportunity. Normally, the way that is done in other countries is through local tourism organisations. In most cases, they probably cover the same area as the local county, although in areas with low numbers of tourists a couple of counties might come together. It would be a company limited by guarantee - that is the normal legal structure - so although there would be organisations such as Mr. O'Hara's and members would be paying a professional membership fee of €100 a year or a figure of that order, that would be the limit of their liability if anything went wrong.