Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

The volcano is outside everybody's control and I appreciate the short-term planning that was put in place and some of the short-term actions which were taken but now there is an urgent need for longer term planning because this situation will not go away. Other events will happen over which we have no control. Are any policy reviews being undertaken in the Minister's Department? If so, what is their status and when will we see new policies that will take account of what has happened and is likely to happen in the future?

I am aware of what an agency such as Fáilte Ireland does. However, when we ask questions in the House about that organisation or other quangos the Minister tells us she cannot answer them and we should write directly to Fáilte Ireland. This happens all the time with quangos. What is the Minister's Department doing? How many people are working in the tourism area?

On a practical issue, I have seen people literally trapped at Dublin Airport, for example, and they do not give out a happy message. As they probably are stuck there for two days what services are in place at the airport that might tell them the names of hotels, how they might get to them and what is available? Does Fáilte Ireland have a service facility at the airport to advise and help people? The picture that comes across to us from the airport is not a happy one. People look very tired, cranky and fed up with the whole business. There seems to be a communications gap around that.

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