John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I am not dismissing the figures, but they relate to specific goods so the survey could not possibly be an accurate reflection of the average cost. Some 97% of visitors to the country have stated they would recommend Ireland to a friend, which is very encouraging. I am not denying Deputy O'Shea's contention that there is a competitiveness issue. Of course there is and I am the first to acknowledge it. I agree there is no point in burying one's head in the sand, although emotive terms as regards our competitiveness are no help to the tourism industry.

As regards motorists from Britain, we would very much like to attract more because, as mentioned earlier, they go to the regions. As I indicated, a major campaign is taking place in our main markets and in particular in Britain. Only this week I launched a campaign for the tourism authorities in the west, north west and Shannon Development, which encourages people to go west. We also conducted one of the most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken on the British market last year to see how we could improve our marketing. We have done that across all sectors, and I have no doubt this will impact on the motorist as well.

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