Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are privileged to have a Minister of State with such vision and calibre in the Department who can listen to people like Deputies Jim Daly and Anthony Lawlor and me and take on board our views. Deputy Jim Daly is correct and I thoroughly concur with him on the ability of Fáilte Ireland to deliver, in the case of Cork, a strategy and joined-up approach to the promotion of the tourism region in Cork. From my experience, Cork city and county councils have been very proactive and are willing to engage and, to borrow the cliché, walking the talk in terms of investment and plans. The Bill is about advancing moneys to Fáilte Ireland for the tourism sector, but for some time I have been saying both to the Minister of State and in public that we must, in the case of Cork, market it as a single destination and the gateway to all of Munster when it comes to attracting tourists. I accept that we are getting closer and that some work has been done.

Next week the Cork strategic tourism task force will launch at Cork Airport a collective strategy for growing tourism in Cork. Having a collective strategy is key. We must use this opportunity to in the next decade market Cork as one region, including west Cork, the city, Blarney, north Cork and east Cork. The marketing of Cork has not been treated with the urgency it has deserved by Fáilte Ireland. With the new strategy, we must have in place an implementation team to put it into action. In the news this week the DAA, Mr. Kevin Toland and the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, extolled the virtues of Dublin Airport and the Dublin Airport Authority. In the south we have a duty to represent and advocate for our region. Do the Minister of State, the Department and Fáilte Ireland have responsibility for ensuring the strategy being launched for Cork is a success? Deputy Jim Daly made reference, both directly and indirectly, to the fact that nobody had legal responsibility for growing tourism in Cork. Fáilte Ireland will state it deals with the bigger picture regionally and nationally. The two councils have put strategies in place. In Cork City Council Mr. Damien O'Mahoney and his team have been tremendous advocates and workers and have a great blueprint and vision to promote and develop tourism, but who is responsible? To whom do we go and who we do hold to account on tourism numbers and for the promotion and marketing of Cork? We can have all of the tourism strategies in the world, but if the buck does not stop with someone, the strategy will gather dust on a shelf and not be worth the time and effort given to it.

We now have an opportunity to develop what Deputy Jim Daly wants in west Cork and what I have done in the city. The Deputy has been a tremendous advocate for west Cork and Cork Airport, as I have been in the city. If we can do it on our own and hold meetings with stakeholders and engage to get buy-in, why can Fáilte Ireland not do so? The time has come for the reports that have been compiled, talked about and launched to be put into real, concrete action. This is about a Government which delivered for the tourism sector in its first budget. This month we all received e-mails about the hospitality sector increasing hotel room rates in this city.

After the direct benefits given to the industry, is this what will happen over the next five years? I challenge the hospitality industry to be realistic and not to be part of rip-off Ireland any more.

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