Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I wish the Minister well in her new brief and look forward to working with her.

I am surprised the implementation group has not yet been established. We are only too well aware that the signals for this year, just like last year, are not good for the tourism industry. The report of the tourism renewal group, published in September 2009, recommended an implementation group of no more than four members with an independent chair be established for an initial period until the end of 2010. We are a third of a way through the year but an implementation group is still not in place.

I accept bits and pieces of the recommendations are being implemented by various agencies but that is the very problem - it is piecemeal. As well as that, these are survival not just recovery actions. The second action, the abolition of the air travel tax has not been introduced. Just yesterday, the Aer Lingus chief executive, Christoph Mueller, spoke again of its significance to the tourism industry.

When will the renewal implementation group be set up? Who will be its members, who will chair it and when can we expect real action from it?

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