Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. For a long time I have believed that tourism is a vital cog in the economy of the country. Now more than ever it can play a very significant role in the realisation and re-establishment of a level of economic activity in our country. It can be the stimulus for which we are crying out. It can be the capacity to attract foreign investment at a time when the foreign investment with which we were more familiar has dried up. For that reason I welcome the appointment today of Deputy Hanafin as the new Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport. It sends a very strong signal that a person of her calibre and stature in Cabinet has been appointed to take on such an important role at this time.

May God help us if the Opposition believes that the abandonment of the €10 travel tax is the solution to the problem that exists with tourism today.

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