Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The one point on which I agree with the Minister is that it is too early to predict the effects of Brexit on our country regarding the common travel area and other matters. However, we need a strategy to deal with that, and it appears from the Minister's reply that the Department does not have a strategy other than to plough on with the status quo. We are overly reliant on the UK market. The Minister stated that 41% of tourists who visited Ireland last year were from the UK and Northern Ireland. That figure increased by a further 15.7% in the first six months of this year. I acknowledge that we have great amenities and much to offer tourists coming here, but that in itself will not bring them here, and the budget for marketing our country was cut significantly in the past four years. Is there is a strategy in place to deal with this issue or does the Minister intend to simply continue with what has been done for the past number of years, which was to concentrate efforts on the UK, Europe and then the United States, to the detriment of other areas such as Asia, where there is huge potential?

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