John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

The hill walking issue is the responsibility of my colleague, Deputy Ó Cuív, who set up a council known as Comhairle na Tuaithe, which is charged with trying to open up the countryside. I understand that the council has made some progress in this respect and it is important that it does so. The number of hill walkers coming here has been reduced significantly because of a decision by a minority of landowners to close off their lands to walkers. However, there are vast expanses of the country where hill walkers are quite welcome and where landowners do not inhibit walking in any way. We should accentuate the positive whenever we can.

With regard to the marketing of north Kerry, arrangements may have been reached at the Cork Kerry Tourism level which would not have reached Fáilte Ireland or Tourism Ireland. I will investigate the matter and communicate with the Deputy.

With regard to the US market, the first six months of this year indicated a decline in the numbers coming from the United States, despite the fact that we have increased capacity. This should level out, particularly because of the decision of American Airlines to fly into Ireland this summer. The increase in capacity from approximately 1 May was 17.5% from the United States, which should have been reflected in increased visitor numbers. We will only know this when we see the figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Reports that tourism offices throughout the country will close as a result of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report on regional tourism is not correct. I am not aware of any suggestion that offices should close in Listowel or elsewhere. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report indicated that there was a greater role for regional tourism authorities, that there should be six of these, that there should be an umbrella group, that the chair of each regional group should be on the umbrella group and that the tourism groups at a regional level should be involved in future product development, enterprise support and marketing.

Mr. Finbarr Flood, who is chair of the implementation group, has already begun his work and I expect all the work will be completed by the middle of next year and that all the relevant structures should be in place by then. That is the assurance I have been given. Before going into high season next year, the relevant authorities and their powers will have been reinvigorated, renewed and expanded.

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