Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the important issue of the shortage and price of rental cars. It is a huge challenge for Irish tourism and a particular threat to rural areas. Consider the amount of money we spend marketing experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way internationally, which are predominantly driving experiences. When tourists cannot rent cars in the country, it puts that investment and a huge number of businesses under pressure and at risk.

I ask for a whole-of-government approach to addressing the issue and that other ideas, such as the hop-on, hop-off service I tried to progress when I was in the Department with responsibility for tourism, will be revisited for the Wild Atlantic Way, as well as better connectivity to all our air and sea ports as points of arrival. This is a big issue which needs an urgent response from the Government.

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