John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

The festivals and cultural events initiative has been an enormous success. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the support given by Fáilte Ireland to various festivals throughout the country, which has not been and possibly cannot be quantified, has been an enormous success. The numbers of visitors coming to festivals that have been supported by Fáilte Ireland is quite impressive.

It is more difficult to attract visitors to flat racing meetings. However, it should be noted that in excess of 60,000 visitors come to Ireland every year for horse racing. Punchestown is a good example of an outstanding festival and others like Fairyhouse, Galway, Listowel, Tralee, Killarney and Laytown have also proven to be tremendous successes. There is a great deal of synergy between Horse Racing Ireland and Fáilte Ireland and a recognition that they should work together to ensure we maximise the potential which these events have for attracting visitors to the country.

The Ryder Cup is simply enormous for Ireland and in particular for Deputy Wall's native county of Kildare. It will attract approximately 40,000 visitors per day, which is the maximum amount the course can hold, and the television audience will be massive. It is estimated that the television audience could be up to 1 billion people worldwide. The kind of coverage that this event will afford the country could not be bought if one went to the marketplace seeking to do so. It is important that the Ryder Cup is an enormous success and I have no doubt that it will be so. All the portents suggest that people are organising extremely well for it in Kildare and that the country in general is prepared for what will be a massive influx of visitors. Even now it is almost impossible to book accommodation within an 80 mile radius of the K Club for the duration of the Ryder Cup.

Last year we were concerned that there was a 1% decline in UK visitor numbers. That is quite serious in terms of the British market because 4.75 million of our visitors come from Britain, so a 1% drop represents 47,500. However, the first six months of this year show an increase of 2%, which is very encouraging as it represents an increase in UK visitor numbers of 95,000. That is due to an increased marketing fund and a very aggressive marketing campaign that has been going on in Britain for almost a year. That campaign has focused on promoting the regions because visitors who bring their cars to Ireland, with their families, are the ones who go out into the regions. That is why we have been working so hard to attract back the British visitors. During the World Cup, when the inclination might be to back some side against England, people might remember our British visitors.

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