Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that, far from listening to Members speak about the delights of every constituency, the Minister of State wants to get back to County Mayo to see the delights of his own constituency and perhaps knock on some doors but whether that will be delightful will be up to him.

Most Members support this amending legislation, the work being in tourism and the Minister of State's work in that regard, as do I, and I commend him on it. I also commend the Government on the work it has done in the tourism sector. I do not always agree with the Government but tourism is one of the areas where it has got it right and I am very happy to support it. Deputy Keating mentioned the Wild Atlantic Way which is a route that goes through my constituency. I would like to see it tweaked in places and more of the estuary included in it but it has been an excellent initiative. I believe a civil servant in the Department came up with the idea and that it is a Civil Service rather than a political initiative. Regardless of where the idea came from - civil servants do not always get praised in the House as politicians have a tendency to praise themselves and their colleagues rather than the Civil Service - this is an excellent initiative and one that is bringing tourists to the country.

I also wish to discuss a lakelands initiative, which the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, when in the Minister of State's Department, advanced and I was very glad about that. I grew up in east Clare beside Lough Derg and large numbers of tourists came to see Lough Derg and cycle around it. There are much fewer tourists now than there was in the past, not only fewer in comparison to the number of tourists going to other areas but fewer in real terms. It is an area that needs to be marketed. There is a specific market for lakelands-based tourism, not only in Clare but across the country, including in Cavan, Galway and lakelands generally. The Masurian Lake District in Poland is an area that draws a considerable number of tourists.

A report that was published, which preceded this promotional drive, stated that Lough Derg lacked an iconic sight around which it could be marketed in the way that the Cliffs of Moher are pretty iconic to the Wild Atlantic Way. It would be churlish not to acknowledge the work of Clare County Council at the Cliffs of Moher. It recently bought Inis Cealtra or Holy Island, which is quite iconic when one is driving around Lough Derg. It is quite clear that it should be the site around which Lough Derg is marketed. Much more needs to be done in that respect.

Deputy Keating spoke about the link between tourism and sport and it is important that they are dealt with together. It is also important that we deal with tourism and culture together. I have been quite critical of the Department of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and its failure to advance UNESCO World Heritage status for many of the sites on the tentative list, which includes Holy Island or Inis Cealtra but it is much broader than that. I met the UNESCO personnel dealing with the Irish file off my own bat in Paris and they were surprised to meet somebody from Ireland. That is not good enough and it does not demonstrate a sufficiency of joined-up thinking between Departments.

Very few tourists come to Ireland for the sunshine; nobody comes here to get a sun tan. People are increasingly coming here for sport but many people come here for culture and we need to do much more to get our sites onto the UNESCO World Heritage list. Currently, it is left to the county councils and the problem is that there is a number of cluster sights. For example, with respect to the early monastic sites, I think Durrow, Clonmacnoise, Inis Cealtra, Kells and Monasterboice are the five and with respect to western stone forts, if I am not mistaken, they fall across counties Kerry, Clare and Galway. In the case of these early monastic sites, Offaly County Council is not that keen on idea of advancing Clonmacnoise and that is holding up all the others. We need to be imaginative about this and if one council does not want to go forward with this, the other councils should not be hindered. We need to drive this nationally because it is important not only for individual areas but it is hugely important to protect and promote Inis Cealtra, Clonmacnoise and Durrow. All of those bring a benefit beyond the region in which they are located because they bring tourists into the country. I would very much like to see this being driven.

I welcome that there is a potential to increase the budget of Bord Fáilte but we need to have more debate on what Bord Fáilte does and on having more joined-up thinking. I appreciate the Minister of State wishes to get to Mayo and I will not delay him any further.

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