John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

A very serious marketing campaign is ongoing in Ireland, which we are not ignoring. While foreign revenue generated as a result of tourism stands at €4.3 billion, revenue from Ireland was at its highest level last year at between €1.3 billion and €1.5 billion, which represents a very significant market. The significance of the Irish market is not lost on me. The Irish tourist, more than any other, tends to go to rural areas, which is why we are making sure we market Ireland within Ireland.

On the other measures that we are taking to ensure that such places as the midlands benefit from the record numbers of visitors, we asked PricewaterhouseCoopers, through Fáilte Ireland, to examine our structures. It did so and reported to us that the seven regional authorities were fine as administrative entities but that it would be necessary for them to become much more involved than at present. It explained that it was necessary for them to engage in product development, enterprise support and, crucially, targeted marketing. We intend to implement the PricewaterhouseCoopers recommendations and, in that context, Mr. Fergus Flood has been asked to chair an implementation group, which he is doing quite successfully.

Those recommendations should start to be acted on this summer. I am not saying that all the work will be completed this summer, but they should start to get rolled out then and be tangible so that the original tourism structures will be able to deliver what had been delivered mainly by Fáilte Ireland centrally. In short, we are doing everything possible to ensure that there is less disparity between the greater conurbations and the regions and less disparity within sectors, for example, the hotel and bed and breakfast sector.

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