Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Deputies' comments. I do my best to keep in close contact with my Northern counterpart, Arlene Foster. We even managed to attend a rugby match in Ravenhill together two weeks ago. We try to keep in contact as much as possible. One thing I would like to see happen which has not happened yet is for Derry to get involved in the Gathering, particularly with it being the City of Culture next year and the various events that will happen in 2013. Even if Northern Ireland as an entity does not get involved in the Gathering, perhaps Derry might decide do so on its own bat. That would be positive for Derry and Donegal.

On Deputy 'Ming' Flanagan's question, we do get a breakdown of such visitors. It comes later in the year. The numbers are broken down into holidaymakers, business tourists and VFRs who are people visiting friends and relatives. What we cannot break down within the category of those visiting friends and relatives is how many of them are returning migrants and how many of them are people who have moved abroad perhaps permanently who come back to visit friends and relatives. We know they bring money into the economy, spend money here and they go to events and attractions and so on.

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