John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I believe last night's event was funded by State agencies. The Deputy mentioned Enterprise Ireland, county councils and Leader, all of which are funded by the State. They are obviously very actively involved with Mullingar which is a very important initiative to launch. They will be funded by State agencies as well. It is very much driven by the community and is about public private partnership, which is how tourism should be.

The Deputy is talking about one piece of literature and I have no doubt that does not represent what was stated in the reply. Nobody is excluding the midlands in any sense. There is a video with President Obama which is being actively promoted in the US. The North-South body, Tourism Ireland, has a job to do and it is not appropriate for the Minister, as he correctly said, to intervene in a region. However, the entire island of Ireland will be actively promoted. The Deputy has cited one piece of literature he has seen, but it is not reflective of Fáilte Ireland in any sense in the promotion of the region. It is very much actively promoted.

When people come here from the US on a nine day trip, it does not mean they just go to Dublin and Cork and do not go up through the midlands. From my experience, people tour the country. They have destination stops all over the region. It is unfair to say people do not visit the middle of the country - Athlone and the surrounding regions. That would be a long stretch of the imagination and I do not believe that is the case. There are significant attractions there and no doubt people are visiting the region. There was huge promotion with President Obama coast to coast in the US. It is being used by Fáilte Ireland in the US at the moment. The Gathering represents an opportunity for everybody to get involved.

The Minister has delegated to Tourism Ireland the function of branding Ireland as a place to come. Last year 1 million visitors came from the US alone and next year there is an expectation of increasing visitor numbers by 325,000. I have no doubt that State agencies and the private sector will play a role in promoting the region. I have no doubt the tourism body in the region is very actively involved. I am quite certain the transcript of this script will be going to Fáilte Ireland as well. Clearly, there is only one piece of literature to which the Deputy referred in which he felt there was an omission. By and large that would not be the mindset of Fáilte Ireland. That is only one publication. I have cited many other-----

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