Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

With the agreement of the House I will share time with Deputies Spring, Lyons and McNamara.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on Second Stage of the National Tourism Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2011. While there has been much emphasis on the technical nature of the Bill, this should not undermine its purpose. Technical changes can be very important in bringing about improvements to the services we provide for our people. The Bill endeavours to bring about the next step in ensuring that every tool and instrument available to the State is fully utilised and harnessed. I commend the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, and the Government on their approach in that regard.

Since the Government took office in February it has put a number of measures in place to help domestic tourism. Many of them have been alluded to by my colleagues. The jobs initiative was important and the visits of Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama gave us an opportunity to showcase the many talents of the country and the warm welcome we can afford to international visitors.

The Olympic Games are to be hosted in London in 2012. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has had great success in terms of changes to visa regulations to allow people coming to the Olympics from afar to visit Ireland for a short period. Such visitors might not take that opportunity if they were not in a neighbouring country for the Olympic Games. The Department was also successful in getting the Olympic torch to visit this soil. Many people would have said these things simply would not happen but the Department has delivered. I commend the Minister for that.

The measures taken by the Office of Public Works to open various sites in each of our counties is a welcome development. Allowing free admission into these sites is an incentive not alone to foreign tourists but domestic tourists such as families who wish to experience more of our country but may be prohibited from doing so owing to cost. I welcome that.

The nub of the issue - Deputy Joe Carey referred to this in passing earlier - is that this Government on taking office decided to take tourism seriously and has brought together different strands of Departments to create a real economic Department. The new Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is responsible for all that we need to get this country back to work and to increase tourism numbers. The results to date have been positive.

The former Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism was viewed and ridiculed by the media as the Department of fun. The Minister of State, Deputy Ring, has brought together all the necessary strands in the new Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Infrastructure, the sporting talents of this country and our ability to market that on the international stage have been brought together under one Department, which is to be welcomed.

Fáilte Ireland recently upped its game, which I welcome. I represent County Wicklow. While many speakers were competing earlier about whose county is the best to visit, Wicklow is aptly, fondly and deservedly known as the garden of Ireland and as such wins that competition. Up to recently Fáilte Ireland referred to Wicklow and other counties as being on the doorstep of Dublin. That was the strategy for Wicklow. People who came to Dublin on their holidays were encouraged to pop down the road to Wicklow for the day and to return then to Dublin to eat in its restaurants and stay in its hotels. There was a real need for Fáilte Ireland to diversify and to ensure that the unique selling point of every county and region was put to work. I am delighted with Fáilte Ireland's new Kildare-Wicklow strategy which recognises that counties within commuter distance of Dublin have a distinct identity and should be marketed in that way. That is a positive development.

The Minister of State, Deputy Ring, has specific responsibility for sport. We must put our sporting talents and achievements to work. Following Ireland's spate of golf wins, Ryanair ran an interesting advertisement in the British media which stated "Come to Ireland Home of Golf". It also used the term "Come to Ireland Home of Cricket" on another occasion. We must market our country as a place for people with an interest in sport to visit. We should go further and look to some of our internationally known sports stars to front tourism campaigns and to be the face of extending an invitation to visit Ireland.

As I see it, the big problem for tourism at local level is a lack of co-ordination. I was previously a member of Wicklow Town Council, Wicklow County Council, the board of directors of Wicklow Tourism and the Greystones Town Council tourism committee, all of which, including the chamber of commerce, had a view on tourism. We need to pull all of these agencies together. When no one in particular is in charge, things fall through the cracks. I believe we should also put our embassies to work. The Tánaiste must ensure our embassies market Ireland not alone as a trade destination, but as a country for people to visit. Our embassies and ambassadors abroad, which cost us a significant amount, must be utilised.

Culture night, held on 23 September, was a huge success in Dublin and countrywide. Leinster House was open so that people could visit this Chamber. In London, one can visit Westminster to see the workings of Parliament and learn about the history of the building. A person wishing to visit Leinster House must be sponsored by a Member of the Oireachtas. We need to address that.

I welcome the legislation and thank the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, for introducing it. I also look forward to continued good work on the tourism side.

See this speech in context