Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy is aware, a high-level co-ordinating group, chaired by my Department, is identifying the opportunities that may arise for Ireland across the sports, tourism and cultural sectors from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The group was established in November 2009 and has met five times to date. The sixth meeting of the group is scheduled to take place before the end of the year.

The task force report referred to in the Deputy's question made a number of recommendations arising from an audit carried out of high quality sports facilities in Ireland and the findings of a report by Indecon International Economic Consultants on the economic evaluation of the benefit to the island of Ireland of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Indecon Report concluded that the largest potential benefits of the London 2012 Olympic Games were on the business side and Enterprise Ireland is actively pursuing opportunities for Irish business.

Given our proximity to London and the many accessible routes to and from the United Kingdom, we can also benefit from a sporting, tourism and culture perspective. The American Olympic synchronised swimming squad has chosen the National Aquatic Centre as its pre-Olympic training base. The Department and various sports facilities are working on attracting other teams to train here.

The tourism agencies are also working hard to maximise the potential benefits to Irish tourism of having the Olympics in London. For example, they are targeting tourists from London who may wish to get away from the city during the games. They are also working with UK inbound tour operators to divert people to Ireland who cannot be accommodated in London during the games given the reduced accommodation and carrier capacity that will be available there.

The Arts Council and Culture Ireland are developing proposals for a cultural programme which would include participation in the cultural olympiad that will be held at the same time as the games.

Given the many factors which may have an impact and are as yet uncertain, it is too early to set specific targets for visitor numbers or associated revenue arising from the Olympics at this stage. The high-level co-ordinating group will continue to meet on an ongoing basis to maximise opportunities and, obviously, this will influence the benefits to Ireland. The outcome of this work will be reflected in the visitor number and revenue targets contained in Tourism Ireland's 2012 business plan which will be prepared next year.

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