Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I, too, wish to send my good wishes to the Minister, Deputy Martin Cullen.

The recent CSO figures in relation to tourism are pretty stark and a little scary. The report, while good, is overdue, particularly in terms of the five survival actions contained therein. That the proposed actions are called "survival actions" implies serious urgency. Perhaps the Minister of State will state what actions will be prioritised.

The air travel tax is an issue we have all raised in the House or by way of parliamentary question. I put it to the Minister of State that this issue must be addressed. The Minister has up to now refused to take this matter seriously. It is important this issue is addressed as part of the survival actions. The Minister of State stated in his initial response that a group will be set up to oversee implementation of the actions. Will this be yet another quango and what in the Department prevents or precludes it from overseeing implementation of those actions?

See this speech in context