Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I take the Minister's point but it is also important to develop packages so tourists visit more locations other than Clonmacnoise, on whichever side of the Shannon. The difficulty arises when different regions are in place. I acknowledge that Tourism Ireland is focusing on Athlone and developing tourism packages in that area. Hopefully this should bring about a positive development.

I ask the Minister to spearhead a proposal to bring together the Office of Public Works, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the tourism agencies and even the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to develop the types of tourism for the midlands such as heritage tourism. Issues about access can be dealt with by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the upgrading of facilities can be arranged by the OPW and the National Parks and Wildlife Services. I refer as an example to Lough Ree which has an abundance of heritage assets. A total of 2.5 million tourists visited those type of facilities last year in various parts of the country. I refer also to activity and walking tourism with a total of 750,000 tourists last year. The midlands has plenty of capacity to develop this sector of tourism.

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