Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for the reply. He is aware his Government set an increase in tourism and visitors to the country as a key strategic component of its jobs initiative. In doing so the Government reduced the VAT rate on tourism related products, much to the annoyance of private pensioners who, effectively, had to pay for that. At one stage the Minister questioned to some extent the ability of that measure to increase employment, and that speaks for itself.

The tourism numbers for the first three months this year, from the beginning of March to the end of May, show a reduction of approximately 1.1% compared with last year. There have been approximately 18,000 fewer visitors to the country. There has been a reduction of approximately 5.7% of the British market and, when one sets this against the fall-off of approximately 3% of Britons travelling in Europe generally, it represents a significant fall-off from our nearest neighbour and our most important market. What specific measures has the Government taken to address this significant fall-off from our nearest neighbour in the context of promoting Ireland generally and working towards The Gathering next year?

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