Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, on his elevation. I think he will be very suited to his new position.

We have spent much resources over the last few years on building up our tourism product here. In the areas of training and education, hospitality services, hotel management and so on, we have managed to build up a product that is seen as being very unique and attractive. This did not happen by accident. Much planning went into producing the product and making sure that it was sold properly around the world. We have managed to do that.

The successful growth of the tourism industry in Ireland has been phenomenal in the past ten years. The fact that we are in a global recession has hit us harder than many other countries. Ireland is a small peripheral country on the edge of Europe, so we have a difficult job to do in selling the country. The economic downturn is a challenge for everybody. We depend heavily on tourism as a major part of the economy in Dublin city and in my constituency. We have hundreds of hotels and restaurants which depend solely on the tourists they attract into the city.

While we have had to make very difficult decisions on how we deal with the economy, it is a challenge for all sectors of society and not just the tourism industry. We have to try to be fair with any decisions that we make. The introduction of this tax by the Department of Finance is an effort to make sure that a fair share is taken by all sides. The question is whether the €10 travel tax influences people when they make a decision to come to Ireland. I have not heard that question answered. I do not know whether there are statistics to prove that the €125 million to be brought in by this tax is counterbalanced by a loss of those people who decided not to come.

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