Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

It is amazing what one learns in this Chamber. I am delighted to hear about all the funding allocated to County Kerry over the past months.

Wearing my parochial hat, I look forward to Wicklow getting some funding in the months ahead. I know my good friend Deputy Ring will not fail to deliver and that he will wear his global rather than his local hat.

I am glad to have some minutes to speak on this straightforward Bill that increases the amount of funding for Fáilte Ireland. While tourism is one of the two great indigenous industries in this country - the other being agriculture - it has not been served well. We have deluded ourselves over time and our standards are not sufficiently high nor do we have an integrated tourist industry. One of the reasons for this is that those who shout loudest get action. Therefore, the funding that has been allocated across the country has not always been allocated in an integrated manner for the common good. I hope that under this new Government and under the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, and Minister of State, Deputy Ring, a global approach will be taken on how funding is allocated. Notwithstanding that I will certainly shout for my corner, it is important that funding is allocated with a view to an integrated product rather than towards the sector that shouts loudest. If one looked at the allocation over the past ten or 15 years, much of it would not stand up in a value for money audit.

This island, on the edge of the Atlantic, should be the Bermuda or Hawaii of Europe. There are some 500 million people in Europe, most of whom have never seen the Atlantic. We have never targeted these to the extent we should, particularly central Europeans such as the Germans, Swiss and Austrians. Coming to the western bastion of Europe, the Atlantic, should be something to which every European should aspire. This should be their equivalent of a trip to the Niagara Falls for Americans or Canadians and we should look at how we pitch ourselves in this regard.

I would like to raise some bugbears with regard to tourism. These are issues that one would find have been raised in the record of the Dáil over the past ten and 20 years. Signage is the first of these. I was travelling to Galway recently and came to Tullamore, but could not find a sign for Galway there. There is a big roundabout route in Tullamore which stretches for miles around the town, but one does not know whether to go through Clara, go back to Kilbeggan or where to go. All that is needed is a simple sign indicating how to get to Galway. I know the country fairly well and have travelled that road many times, but what is it like for somebody who has never been in the country before when he or she gets to Tullamore from the south or the east? How can that person find the way back to the main road? It defies logic why the signs are not there. The same old bugbear also applies at Dublin Airport. When one leaves the airport what does one see but a sign for Westport? I know that all roads lead to Westport, but surely the main destinations should be signposted from the airport. It is very difficult when one leaves the airport to see where one should go or where one should get off the road.

The NRA has a policy, perhaps it comes under the regulation or schedule to the legislation, that only the end point can be advertised on signs. I do not think that even main hospitals can be signposted off motorways. If one drives up the new N9 from Waterford to Dublin, there is nothing to indicate that one can go across to the N11 through Wicklow. Many tourists come up from Waterford, drive up to the M50, head eastwards and then back down the N11 when they could have come off the N9 in an easterly direction earlier. I raised this issue with the NRA, Kildare County Council and Wicklow County Council until I had a pain in my face, but nothing happened. I will have one more bash at it and hopefully it will work out.

I do not know how many county tourism boards we have. I go for the policy one person for one job or one person for three jobs, but not two or ten organisations for one job, because nothing happens in that case. County tourism boards should be abolished across the country. We have one in Wicklow and it too should be abolished. Tourism should be co-ordinated by Fáilte Ireland or Tourism Ireland, whatever it is called now, and the local authority should have a link person to the organisation responsible. The greatest contribution local authorities can make to tourism is to keep their signage and towns clean. It does not take much money to keep a place clean, but it can only be done if our county managers and directors of services go out and visit the towns and tourist locations. There should be an onus on them to go around their county once a year to take a look at what needs to be done. Small changes can make such a difference. Some of our towns are fantastic and I congratulate Killarney and towns like Kilkenny, Westport and Aughrim on the wonderful job they have done. However, other towns, which will remain nameless and some of which are in my county, are a disgrace, particularly with recent dereliction. I noticed an innovative concept in Arklow where some of the derelict buildings have been painted with attractive advertising murals. This idea could be considered and seen as getting rid of graffiti in reverse.

When I was first elected in 1997 I brought out a document entitled WIN, Wicklow integrate now. This was a document on tourism which I sent to the then Minister with responsibility for tourism. My concept was to develop a one-day and two-day tour of Wicklow. However, nothing happened. I hope that under the new Government we will get some positive movement. Currently I am drawing up a document entitled 2020 vision for the greater Wicklow area. I have decided to take this on myself because I do not have confidence in an integrated approach from the authorities. What I am doing is sketching out the basic bones of a concept for the greater Wicklow area and I hope that by 2020 the majority of the projects identified can be completed. No matter what village one visits in Germany or the Cotswolds, there is some attraction in it. Each one has a rich and diverse history. However, when one visits most of the towns in this country, this is not available and one cannot access information. Often when one comes to a location, it is closed. Many Irish areas have a deep, lush local history that would be of interest to tourists. I have a draft project concept drawn up for Wicklow and intend to put it to the public for its views. Then I will draw up a proposal that I hope, with the help of the Minister of State, will be implemented over the next number of years.

It is all well and good for people to be able to see the beautiful scenery in an area, but they also want to be able to do something. They want to have coffee, read a bit of local history, fish and cycle. The advent of cycle paths is welcome, but it is terrible when after five or six miles cyclists must get a bus or train and head off somewhere else to cycle. This portrays the lack of integration. We should have started with cycle paths in one location and worked out in a web process. We should not just have isolated paths in Wicklow, Mayo and Donegal. They should be interconnected in a web fashion. They could follow our river banks, our disused railways and canal walks.

Every town should have an information board. We often meet tourists in towns, whether Irish or non-nationals, who can find no information on where to go or what to do. It does not take much effort to provide a tourist information board. I must compliment the western seaboard which has perhaps had a hungrier approach to tourism than the eastern seaboard or the midlands. Most places in the west have an information board. Another hobbyhorse of mine is the rip-off. I went to the football all-Ireland a couple of weeks ago and went into a premises where there was a very warm welcome and great approach and service. However, once we paid over our money it was like being put down a laundry chute. It was bang, press the button, out. Our ejection was so abrupt that the few people I was with said they would never go back to that location.

They praised the experience as they went though it but the way the button was pressed reminded me of the advertisement in which the lads from Longford are beamed up for a McDonalds burger. That is what happened, except in this case one was beamed out of the premises. It did a disservice to the industry and to the innate and warm hospitality of the people.

Deputy Griffin alluded to alcohol and the tradition of the Irish pub. I stopped off in Durty Nelly's a few weeks and I noticed the Minister of State's constituency colleague, the Taoiseach, had visited during August because there was a picture of him up on the wall. I would like to see the Minister of State's picture up in a few locations around the country. However, there is a downside to the change in drinking habits. In Temple Bar and every small town and village in the country, young people are stoned out of their minds late at night every weekend having consumed naggins of vodka on a river bank before heading to the local disco and so on. This is an epidemic and the older generation is not aware of the extent of the difficulties. Young people visit their local supermarket or off-licence to purchase 70 cl bottles of vodka using fake identification or they ask their friends who are of legal drinking age to buy for them. They then drink neat vodka or mix it in such a way that they drink half a bottle each before falling around the place out of their minds later in the evening. I do not know how that problem can be tackled but, from the point of view of tourism, it is not an attractive experience for foreigners who visit the country to see young people falling around stoned out of their brain.

When people go on holidays, they normally like to engage in an activity. I was approached by a group of historians who are American Civil War fanatics. The civil war trail industry in the US is worth approximately $2 billion a year. This year is the 150th anniversary of the war and this group is teaming up with Fáilte Ireland to develop the concept of an American Civil War trail in Ireland because 11 or 12 generals who fought on both sides were Irish while 160,000 other Irish people participated in it, which is more than in the First or Second World Wars. If that concept is developed, perhaps in conjunction with an American presidents trail through Wexford, Moneygall, Ballyporeen and a few locations in Ulster with connections to past presidents, it will attract tourists to the country.

Reference was made to the diaspora, an issue I have raised over a long number of years. There are many millions of people of Irish descent in North and South America. Following the economic forum in Farmleigh House in 2009, it was agreed that a certificate of Irish heritage should be introduced and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade handed over the first one to the mother of a deceased fireman in New York recently. I support the principle but I caution that it is important that the research carried out into the connections people say they have with the country stand up to scrutiny. A Kerry firm is responsible for the production of the certificates but it must be ensured the background of those who apply for them is well proofed to ensure they have a definite Irish connection. We do not want the certificates to become souvenirs like pieces of the rock of Cashel. They will only have a value if the qualification is thoroughly checked and authenticated.

Reference was made to using sport to attract tourists. The hoped for success of the Irish rugby team in the weeks ahead will project an attractive image of the country and that is why it is important that people who represent the country, be it behind a bar in Kiltimagh, on the playing fields of New Zealand or in the swimming pools of Atlanta, are proud of who they are and project a good image. Gaelic games are unique sports. Soccer and rugby can be watched anywhere and while it is fantastic when Irish teams do well, we should be conscious of the uniqueness of our national games. The GAA will have to step up to deal with violence in Gaelic football games on and off the pitch because modern society will not accept it. The association could find itself in the same position as the Catholic Church and its officials could leave it too late before they realise they have a problem. They will come under increasing threat from other sports such as rugby if they do not organise their games in a proper manner and send a message that there is no place for violence within these games. There is nothing better than bringing a tourist to a hurling or football match but if it is peppered with violence or abuse from the line and so on, the GAA will run into difficulty. Some people advocate that this is a unique part of the games but that is unacceptable in modern society.

I wish the Minister of State well in his job. I look forward to him visiting Wicklow to consider the Vision 2020 concept and we do not expect everything to be done overnight. His heart lies in Mayo but he has travelled around since he took up office and he has been approachable at all times. Hopefully, that will remain the case.

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