Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

Does the Minister have any evidence to support the claim that visitors to the Dublin region are mainly young people on short holidays rather than families? The loss to the sector involves the reduction in the number of families coming here. Short holidays seem to be popular with young people. As we know with regard to wedding fairs etc., we have such visitors. We are losing out on families coming to Ireland. Young people come for festivals or international gigs to see bands such as U2 and others. We receive many such visitors, but in the overall context, families are not coming here. When they do, they do not visit the west and other similar regions. With regard to partying, the holidaymaker is focused on where the action is.

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