John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Am I to take it that the Minister cannot give a commitment that we will obtain money for Ireland's Ancient East in the next tranche of funding? Some €10 million in State funding was given to the Viking triangle, which lies on the Ancient East trail. It is interesting that a couple of weeks later the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, suggested the capital would be invested in Youghal rather than Waterford, which was an astounding statement for him to make. I think the Minister of State is out of touch with what is happening in Waterford at this stage.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, referred to tourism figures. The objective of the Wild Atlantic Way was to carry out an assessment of where tourism figures were dropping and where initiatives could be put in place, with the necessary finance, to attract tourism. Ultimately, it is about attracting tourism and one of the ways to do that is to boost tourism initiatives in the area, which means the provision of finance. The visitor numbers, as the Minister will see, have dropped substantially from 1.1 million to fewer that 700,000 in a few years. This is why it was of paramount importance for us to obtain funding for the Wild Atlantic Way. That has not happened and now we are not going to receive any of the €1.8 million, or at least we will not do so now, and the Minister cannot definitively indicate whether in the near future - namely, January, February or next week - we will receive it. This will further undermine job prospects in Waterford, which the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has acknowledged was one of the worst-hit areas in the past six years and where, a few weeks ago, he said there was a need to invest in tourism and to create jobs in the sector. One Minister is saying one thing and another tells us there is no money to invest in order that we can have substantive tourism and sustainable jobs in the area.

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