Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I am concerned about the number of visitors from Britain and will talk to the agencies about addressing this issue. Tourism Ireland has undertaken its biggest ever marketing campaign this year and I propose to examine that carefully to ensure that it is focused. Last year we had over 4 million visitors from Britain which was an increase of 6% on the previous year. There has been some softness in the market for the first four months of this year and the number is down 5% on last year.

There are major challenges in Irish tourism, including cost competitiveness, focus and investment and I propose to study these carefully to see how to respond to them. We cannot take Irish tourism for granted. That is important.

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