Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Clearly, the statistics indicate we get fewer repeat visitors than other tourist destinations but that may be, in part, down to the nature of Ireland as a tourism destination. People may well go the Costa del Sol and Portugal every other year. Coming to Ireland is a different proposition especially for people coming from America or from long haul flights. In many cases, it is a once in a lifetime holiday or something they may do twice. It is different from the south of France. The important issue is to increase the numbers coming in every year, whether they are repeat visitors is not the key issue. What I can say is that this is going to be another good year for tourism. Since the change of Government the number of international visitors coming to Ireland has increased by a million per year. I meet Ms Arlene Foster regularly, the last such meeting took place on Friday week in Farmleigh. We have built up a good working relationship in recent years. There is an issue that might be considered by the party of which the Deputy is a member. Under the d'Hondt system Sinn Féin had the second pick of Ministries. The DUP choose Finance and Sinn Féin passed over the opportunity to have Enterprise, Trade and Investment which includes tourism, I am not sure why. Essentially, what Sinn Féin did in the North was to decide not to have anything to do with the economic Ministries and decided to go for others instead.

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