John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 37, 41 and 61 together.

Having good levels of tourism growth throughout the regions has become an increasing challenge for tourism policy. As a result, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland have incorporated a strong regional focus in their current strategies. In this year's Estimates, I obtained substantial additional funding to help the agencies address this challenge. Last week, I attended the launch by Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland of a number of marketing initiatives — the super-regions initiative, the opportunities fund and the local area marketing fund — which are designed to help improve tourism growth throughout the regions.

The operation of these programmes is a day-to-day matter for the tourism agencies and the regional tourism authorities. Details on the local area fund are available on www.failteireland.ie and fuller information on the other programmes will emerge as the final details are agreed between the agencies, the regional tourism authorities and regional industry.

In case there is any confusion, let me be absolutely clear about last week's announcement in regard to the super-regions initiative. A super-region is a marketing concept, not an administrative structure. Therefore, the super-regions initiative is not about creating new structures at a regional level. It is purely a marketing initiative created by the tourism agencies and designed to present Ireland's regions more coherently to overseas consumers. I addressed the current state of play with regard to the restructuring of the regional tourism authorities in my earlier reply. The super-regions initiative will not impact on these structures.

At present, the country is divided into seven regional tourism structures for administrative purposes. These administrative divisions may not be optimum for marketing purposes overseas. Concepts like "Ireland west", "Ireland south" and "Ireland east" may have a greater chance of resonating with the foreign consumer than, for example, "Ireland south-east" or "midlands and east coast tourism". Basically, it is about making the marketing of regions simpler and, it is to be hoped, more effective.

From a policy perspective, I have long held the view that there is considerable scope for the existing tourism regions to work more closely together and to pool some of their marketing resources. The pooling of resources allows for campaigns with greater impact and also improves the chances of leveraging more funds from the industry, which is always desirable from an Exchequer perspective. Shannon, Ireland west and the north-west region could be said to have pioneered this concept last year when they came together to undertake a special strategic marketing initiative. The exposure and impact achieved by these three regions through pooling their funds and other resources far exceeded the sum of what they could have achieved individually.

It is important, however, that this initiative is not viewed in isolation but rather as one element of a much larger regional strategy being pursued by Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, several elements of which are designed to heighten the regional impact of Ireland's marketing activities both nationally and overseas. From the extra funding secured for tourism marketing, the agencies will maintain an opportunities fund of €1 million to allow them to respond to regional opportunities which may arise during the course of the year and which are not anticipated in current programmes. Fáilte Ireland is also introducing a new €1 million local area marketing fund to support the industry in generating additional business in 2006 and 2007. Full details of this fund, with application forms, are to be found on the Fáilte Ireland website.

Fáilte Ireland has an innovation fund of approximately €1 million, the immediate priority of which is to encourage innovation and investment across a range of new products with a strong emphasis on products designed to attract and hold visitors outside the mature urban tourism areas. Full details of this fund, with guidelinesand application forms, are to be found atwww.failteireland.ie.

Apart from providing a policy impetus in addressing the regional issue, I have no role in the administration of the funds and initiatives, and neither I nor my Department decide on applications to be supported or the detailed content of relevant marketing programmes. On the basis that activities and attractions — things to do and see — are central to increasing visitor spend, Fáilte Ireland will continue to assist in product development, including developing and promoting looped walks, angling, festivals, cycling routes and equestrian, golfing and water-based activities.

As I stated in response to an earlier question, these initiatives are being taken against a backdrop of a restructuring and refocusing of the delivery of tourism at regional level that will effectively lead to the provision of a one-stop-shop for the tourism industry in the regions, with strong regional representation.

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