Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

That all sounds great. I welcome the fact the Minister recognised the need for interaction between Departments and the various bodies responsible for tourism because it is a very fragmented industry in every sense, in terms of the industry itself and the bodies which look after it. I could stay here all day and discuss the various areas in which other bodies are impinging on our efforts to attract tourists. Today I received an e-mail from somebody who said he or she met an Indian tour operator who reported the difficulties it was having in getting visas for tourists coming to this country from India and that it had almost given up trying to send visitors to Ireland because it was so difficult. It is costly and complex; there is no doubt about it. I said the other day that by the time one has answered all the questions to which answers are required by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, one has lost the will to live, much less to travel.

Those are the kinds of things about which any Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism must be very concerned, even if it is not under his or her direct remit. I hope the Minister will play a role in interacting with the other bodies. One issue is visas, another is airport handling charges. There is a real need for the Dublin Airport Authority to realise it must attract airlines and customers, something which one does not do by putting up prices. If our airports are not efficient there will be no tourists coming into the country. The DAA revised its charges recently as part of its preparations for T2. A chauffeur company contacted me to say it is being charged €1,000 per year to park one car when it comes to collect tourists. It should be the other way around. It is providing a service to the airport. There has to be recognition across all bodies that they have to keep prices down.

I would like to think I had something to do with encouraging the Minister to ensure prices did not go up this year. The OPW was the only provider to increase prices last year.

The agency does a great job and I do not wish to be critical of its main function, which is conservation and preservation. It is not a commercial entity and its officials do not see it as their function to be part of the national recovery drive, to attract visitors and provide a service to the public. It is a sterile undertaking to refurbish buildings and not use them or make them accessible. The fact that the OPW is not allowed to keep the income it generates from tourism means it has no incentive to encourage visitors. Will the Minister consider - perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, has a view on this - tendering for the operation of OPW sites and historic buildings in order that the upkeep remains a matter for the OPW and the operation of the sites and the provision of services, guides and so on becomes a commercial undertaking to encourage tour operators? That would result in a different attitude and greater usage. An ongoing complaint from tour operators is that the historic sites make life more difficult for them. Will the Minister consider that?

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