Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

One must view this as a two-pronged process, involving both the promotion and development of the tourism product. This investment plan is concerned with the marketing component because the product already exists and is quite pervasive. At the annual general meeting of Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, a seminar took place at which representatives of the different islands, including Hare Island, Rathlin Island, Inis Mór, Inishbofin, Aranmore in Scotland and many more, spoke about island tourism. The plan involves promoting all the existing tourism products available on the islands, including islands as small as Hare Island in Cork, as a single product.

Running parallel to this will be the development of the product and there are several ways of doing this. One element of this is the CLÁR programme, under which all the islands are covered. Údarás na Gaeltachta has invested heavily in developing the tourism product for the Gaeltacht islands. In addition, we have a new scheme of incentives for the development of businesses, including tourism products, that are launched on the non-Gaeltacht islands. This means money is now available through the county enterprise boards to develop the tourism product on those islands.

My intention is that this process will be implemented on an annual basis and that we continue to market and develop the product simultaneously. As the product is developed, it must be marketed. Marketing without product is of no use and vice versa — we must develop both together.

See this speech in context