Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Olympic torch is a matter for the Olympic Council of Ireland. There have been some announcements about what is happening in Dublin. Enterprise Ireland has informed me there are €200 million to €500 million worth of projects from Irish companies, such as building the stadium in London. Sometimes we forget about that. The media looks at the negativity about what is happening and who is coming to the country. Tourism Ireland is doing an excellent job, it is working very hard and the visa situation will help us. We are trying to get both the accredited and non-accredited media to come here and we are trying to get people coming to Britain to travel on to Ireland. We have a wonderful opportunity as well with so many people displaced from London and others who would usually go to London who might instead come to Ireland. We are working on a number of festivals and cultural events that will be announced in the next few weeks to encourage as many people as possible to come to Ireland.

The Deputy is right about the National Aquatic Centre. We have already had the British and Hungarian water-polo teams, the USA synchronised swimming team and the British Paralympic swimming team visiting. Where the facilities exist, they have been used. The previous Government gave people the impression we have wonderful facilities. The facilities we have are being used. We do not have other facilities to bring teams in but where we have them, they are being used.

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