John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I understand a Tourism Council operated during the 1990s. It contained representatives of various Departments and State agencies and was chaired by the then Minister for Tourism and Trade. Despite some early progress and enthusiasm, the council had a mixed experience. As its operation was not particularly satisfactory, it eventually petered out. I understand the establishment of a similar body was considered but not recommended by the tourism policy review group in 2003.

While I fully appreciate the concerns which underpin the Deputy's question, many of the issues that impact on tourism do not come under the aegis of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism alone. If the potential of the tourism industry is to be fully realised, key policies and decisions should reflect the needs of the sector. This was recognised as a critical issue by the tourism policy review group. Rather than recommending the establishment of a tourism strategy committee, the review group decided to focus on the development of an intensive bilateral engagement with key Departments and State agencies on priority issues.

Following publication of the review group's report in September 2003, I established a group to monitor implementation of the tourism action plan. While the implementation group contained considerable tourism expertise, it was not a cross-departmental group. During the two years of its existence, the group and the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism engaged directly with a number of other Departments and State agencies on key issues which affected the tourism development agenda. The meetings of the implementation group which focused on specific issues or themes were attended by representatives of relevant Departments and State agencies, usually at the level of Secretary General or chief executive officer.

This model which has worked well is supported by the tourism sector which is actively engaged in the process. The implementation group reported that it was satisfied with the degree of progress in implementing the bulk of the recommendations contained in the action plan of the New Horizons report. In May 2006 I appointed a successor group, the tourism strategy implementation group, to advise on implementation of the outstanding recommendations of the New Horizons report. This new implementation group is continuing to meet. It will host a tourism forum in April, to which representatives of the tourism sector will be invited.

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