Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. I very much welcome the fact that we will have €150 million in that particular programme over the next few short years. Our tourism product is quite rightly sold on an all-Ireland basis. We want to develop the tourism product on an all-Ireland basis with more cross-Border tourism products.

As a member of Government in January 2009, I had the privilege to launch with Ms Arlene Foster, the then enterprise Minister for Northern Ireland, the first transnational geopark in the world, namely, the Marble Arch Caves geopark in Cavan-Fermanagh. We need more projects that have international and national renown that can attract visitors from many countries overseas. As a public representative in a neighbouring constituency, I wish Ms Foster well for the future. We had the opportunity to work together on different projects over the years.

I appeal to the Minister again, when formulating policy, to ensure that the all-Ireland, cross-Border dimension is factored into all investment considerations and investment programmes.

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