Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

To answer the first question, Deputy Ó Caoláin is correct to state the figures include Irish people returning home. Two sample surveys are done on passengers. The first is the country of residence survey which asks two questions, namely, where people are from and the number of trips they made abroad. The second is the passenger card inquiry, PCI. These are carried out by the CSO.

The country of residence survey provides estimates of the number of inbound and outbound passengers to the Republic of Ireland by country of residence. The PCI provides additional information regarding reasons for journeys, ticket type and expenditure. The country of residence survey is used to provide analysis of arriving and departing passengers by country of residence and the survey is conducted at the airports in Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry and the ports at Rosslare, Ringaskiddy, Dún Laoghaire and Dublin. This selection is done in such a way as to ensure proper representation of airport and port pairing, day and night and weekday and weekend flights and sailings. On selected sailings and flights, a one in five systematic sample of passengers is selected and their countries of residence are recorded by a CSO interviewer.

Sample results are grossed up to total passenger numbers travelling from each airport and port pairing in the Republic of Ireland as provided by the airports and ferry companies. Where an airport and port pairing was not covered in a survey month, results are imputed on the basis of nearest neighbour. The survey allows the CSO to measure the number of non-Irish residents travelling into the Republic of Ireland and the number of Irish residents travelling abroad. As the country of residence survey does not establish the reason for an individual's trip or length of stay, those travelling for reason of remuneration for more than one year to this country cannot be excluded.

Deputy Ó Caoláin has previously raised the matter of co-operation between North and South. Apart from joint work on statistical reports, such as Ireland North and South A Statistical Profile, active contact also takes place between the statistical authorities North and South on matters of common interest. Unlike in the Republic where most surveys are conducted and published by the CSO, in Northern Ireland's statistical system many departments have responsibility for publishing the official statistics on a given topic. In the case of tourism, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board has responsibility for collection and the CSO is in regular contact with its officials.

A great deal more co-operation is taking place since we last spoke on this matter. I inquired about this issue and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board will conduct a pilot scheme similar to our country of residence procedure. It is vital to have co-operation on tourism and that our tourism board uses the material compiled. The bottom line is that the figures show that in December 2007 trips to Ireland totalled 8,012,200 compared to 7,709,000 in 2006. This is the most relevant figure.

Comparing the first three quarters of 2006 to the first three quarters of 2007, one sees that visitors from Great Britain decreased by 1%, those from the USA and Canada increased by 1% and the number of visitors from other European countries increased by 15%. The number of those visiting from other areas increased by 2.5%. This shows an increase in visitors from Europe which is extremely positive. These figures are vital for our tourist bodies and are used to focus on where the markets need to be improved.

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