Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I am not sure how the Taoiseach can reconcile his opening remarks supporting the contribution of 800 staff in the Great Southern Hotel Group with his conclusion that he purports to sell the hotels in the manner described, keeping them as far as possible as hotels. That clearly means the inevitable will happen and some will be developed for property speculation, for which they are ideal sites, as opposed to being an element of the tourism infrastructure that disperses tourism around the country to areas that would otherwise suffer.

I am amazed the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism can facilitate this and that the Fianna Fáil Party can be dictated to by the Progressive Democrats. An obscure, unelected Senator ranted and raved this morning on the merits of selling the hotels. The Taoiseach referred to losses of €6 million in a hotel chain that has been starved of the capacity to make the necessary investment. The second element seems to be the high proportion of staff costs as compared to turnover. The staff are the leading, most professional, highest skilled staff in the tourism sector. That is a fact and if the argument is that they should be replaced by cheaper staff and the hotels sold for property speculation, it is a disgrace.

That is what will happen at a time when we need, more than ever, to disperse the tourism figures across the west of Ireland. Some major facilities that have played a major role in the past are to be sold for property development. Eyre Square sits on the edge of a 13 acre site, while the Killarney Great Southern Hotel and others are ideal for property speculation. I am amazed at the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, who made a pledge to the people of Killarney and staff a few years ago. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, Tadhg an dá thaobh, has been running around speaking from both sides of his mouth about the two hotels in Galway.

This is a bad day for tourism and a bad day for Fianna Fáil when it is being dictated to by the Progressive Democrats' wish to put everything in the State sector under the hammer rather than creating a stand alone vehicle for these hotels where investment can be made, linked to an international brand to bring tourism to Ireland, using marketing skills to disperse tourism from the east coast and Dublin to the west of Ireland.

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