John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

As I advised the House on several occasions this year, most recently on 26 October last, individual actions and measures relating to tourism promotion or development at regional or county level are day to day functions of the State tourism agencies. There has been a major reform of Irish tourism structures in recent years with the setting up of Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland. Reform of the function, role and operational aspects of sub-national structures, as recommended by the tourism policy review group in its report "New Horizons for Irish Tourism — An Agenda for Action", was the final phase of that process.

In response to the recommendation in the "New Horizons" report, Fáilte Ireland commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to review regional tourism structures. That report recommended the establishment of regional tourism development boards to ensure a greater focus on the individual needs of each region at a national level, and the subsuming of former regional tourism authority management and staff into Fáilte Ireland. The bodies known as county tourism committees were a substructure of the regional tourism authorities, RTAs. To facilitate the new regional structures and the establishment of the five new regional tourism development boards, the former regional tourism authorities passed the necessary resolutions earlier this year and the boards of directors resigned.

Following the dissolution of the RTAs, I gave my consent to the establishment by Fáilte Ireland of five regional tourism development boards — in the south-east, the south-west, the west, the midlands-east and the northwest regions — and the delegation of certain functions to each of the boards. The functions so delegated are: directing the formulation and regular review of a comprehensive tourism development strategy for its region, to cover all key aspects of tourism development including the product, enterprise support, training, marketing, infrastructure and environmental management needs of tourism in that region; drafting multi-annual work plans for its region to support the implementation of the region's development strategy for tourism; submitting multi-annual plans to Fáilte Ireland for funding and other resources and securing funding, as appropriate, from within the region; overseeing the implementation of the region's approved work plans and approving corrective action as appropriate; reporting on outcomes achieved from implementing the region's tourism development strategy and issues arising from its implementation; performing the role of advocate for tourism development in its region in accordance with national and regional policies and procedures; and working closely with other bodies in the region to support the development of tourism in the region.

I appreciate that a significant amount of energy and activity exists at county level with many tourism enterprises and the local authorities often identifying, in the first instance, with the county structure. However, I understand the experience with regard to the former county tourism committees was mixed and inconsistent. I also understand that they performed with varying degrees of effectiveness. In this regard, I expect that the regional strategies to be drawn up by the regional tourism development boards will seek to harness and build on the county dynamic within the overall regional framework.

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