Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The reality is that over the past five to seven years we got extremely good at selling to ourselves in many respects within the economy and none more so than in tourism. An amount of short breaks are sold and marketed from one end of the country to the other to fill hotels developed on the basis of tax incentives, some of which I supported at the time. However, I must say that the focus is entirely wrong if we do not return to attracting people to the country in the way we did in the past.

In the past, people came here for many reasons, such as genealogy, with people from the United States coming here to trace their roots. Unfortunately, that business is declining. As we move from generation to generation, the link in families is much more tenuous and people are less likely to travel. People come for fishing, scenery and many other reasons, or they did in the past. However, they are no longer prepared to do so because we now compete with many other markets. People have moved on from the links that were there and the product we thought we had.

We have not been good at developing the next layer of product. The future of tourism in this country depends on giving people a reason to be here. They will not come because we are €10 or €5 cheaper or because we have good access. It is about wanting to come to Ireland and developing products. It has been shown throughout the world that people travel for product, attractions and facilities. We must get those in place and we need money to do so.

I do not believe the tax will generate enough money to develop our attractions. We have to see tourism attractions in the same way as we see roads. They are vital parts of our infrastructure and over the coming years we have to develop our capital programme in a way that looks to attract that tourism investment and spend from outside Ireland rather than doing what we have become very good at, which is selling to ourselves.

The tax is irrelevant. It is not the reason somebody would not come to Ireland. When one considers the array of taxes and the cost generally, €10 is an insignificant amount of money. Over time, it will probably be removed because it will become irrelevant in the overall scheme of things because of the investment needed. In the current environment it is necessary. We have a significant and difficult budgetary position and therefore there is no reason we should not retain the tax.

As Deputy Breen knows, the simple fact of the matter is that 80% of the passengers going through Shannon are outbound. A person who stays at home and does not travel should not be expected to subvent a person travelling and taking money out of the country to spend it elsewhere. Somehow over time, the idea has developed that Ryanair is delivering tourists to the mid-west and the west. It is not. It is taking Irish people away for short breaks and holidays. It is getting traffic through the airport-----

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