Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We would be delighted to have the Minister in Waterford and I would be delighted to show her the sites. I see the Minister of State with responsibility for heritage waiting in the wings. There is a real role in heritage-led development, not only of our towns and villages, but also of our tourism product. Waterford is an outstanding example of that. The Minister of State with responsibility for heritage opened the Museum of Time in Waterford for us last week. Our Museum of Silver will be opened by the Minister for Finance on Thursday. The Minister referred to the greenway, St. Declan's Way, going farther west.

It will link all the way to Cashel and will provide an outstanding tourist experience. We need to focus on that and away from the consumption model where people come quickly into and out of our cities and perhaps do not spend a great deal or experience the culture in the way that we might like them to. We need to ensure we have a regional approach to this and not just concentrate on bed nights in Dublin which before the pandemic was reaching capacity. We need to spread that spend across the country.

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