Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Tourism is specifically identified in the Good Friday Agreement as one of the key areas for North-South co-operation and consequently one in respect of which the North-South Ministerial Council meets in sectoral format. The aim of the council in this particular format is to make decisions on areas of common policies and approaches specifically as they relate to tourism. These include policies and actions to be implemented by Tourism Ireland, the body with responsibility for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a tourist destination.

The previous meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in tourism sectoral format took place on 25 January 2012. Among the issues on the agenda at the most recent meeting of the council, on 28 November in Armagh, were, as the Minister of State indicated, Tourism Ireland's business plan for 2013, major tourism opportunities North and South in 2013 and a review of this year's visitor numbers to the island of Ireland. Will he elaborate on some of the discussions that took place in regard to the business plan and the tourism opportunities?

The Minister of State mentioned the tourism recovery task force that was formed early in 2011 with the aim of ensuring growth in inbound tourism. It includes representatives of Fáilte Ireland, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Tourism Ireland and is expected to make recommendations to the council. Will the Minister of State provide specific details of the recommendations made for 2013?

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