Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a second time."

The National Tourism Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 provides the basis to enable the continued provision of capital funding to the National Tourism Development Authority, Fáilte Ireland, for the purpose of supporting tourism product development and the tourism industry. Section 24(1) of the National Tourism Development Authority Act 2003 gives me, as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the power to advance moneys provided by the Oireachtas to Fáilte Ireland. Section 24(2) sets out the amount of money that can be advanced by the Minister to Fáilte Ireland for capital expenditure. Assuming that the allocated funding in 2022 is drawn down by Fáilte Ireland, the current limit of €300 million will be reached close to the end of 2022. No further voted capital funding can then be advanced to Fáilte Ireland. Accordingly, I put the Bill before the Dáil to provide for the new spending limit of €500 million.

Before speaking on the further details of the Bill, I would like to outline the significant contribution and importance of the tourism sector to Ireland's overall economic performance and the progress made in recent times. As the House will be aware, this country has been extremely successful in turning the warmth of the Irish welcome and the beauty of the Irish countryside into a success story that we can all celebrate and be proud of. Tourism is Ireland's most important indigenous labour-intensive sector, generating substantial export earnings and tax revenues. It is woven into the fabric of Irish cultural and social life and is of critical importance to regional economies, in particular.

The contribution of tourism is not confined to directly generated employment, economic activity and exports. The sector has an important multiplier effect on other employment sectors, such as agriculture, transport, retail, food and beverage, which are particularly important to regional economies. Apart from its economic value, tourism also plays an important role in promoting Ireland's image abroad, generating a positive impression of Irish people and our landscape and culture for our visitors.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the tourism industry. As we rebuild this vital sector, we must build it back in a way that ensures the contribution of the tourism sector to our economic recovery and provides sustainable employment across Ireland in a way that protects our unique environment. Internationally, tourism continues to recover steadily, yet several challenges remain, from geopolitical to economic. The combination of increasing interest rates in all major economies, rising energy and food prices and the growing prospects of a global recession are major threats to the recovery of international tourism for the remainder of 2022 and 2023.

Budget 2023 has secured continued additional funding of €15 million for overseas marketing of Ireland as a leading holiday destination and the development of the invitation project. Domestically, continued additional funding of €15 million will deliver a range of measures to support the sector. The Government also announced a temporary business energy support scheme which will support businesses, including those in the tourism sector. In budget 2022, the tourism budget included a large capital allocation of €35 million to Fáilte Ireland for tourism product development. This level of capital investment will continue in 2023 as budget 2023 has also provided for funding of €36.5 billion.

Ireland's commitment to pursue a climate-neutral economy will help us to realise our ambition to be among the world leaders in sustainable tourism. My Department has initiated the development of a new national tourism policy that will seek to mainstream sustainability. The development of this new policy will involve extensive consultation with the tourism industry and our communities to set out a path for the coming years which will support a sustainable recovery in the sector. This new tourism policy will seek to support sustainable development in communities throughout the country, while protecting our environment and natural resources and with a greater spread of demand across the year.

As a significant proportion of tourists are drawn to attractions and participative experiences that bring local culture and heritage to life, Fáilte Ireland offers a range of support to help tourism providers across the country to maximise their individual and collective offering in a way that attracts and engages tourists and enhances their overall experience. Accordingly, Fáilte Ireland's capital investment in tourism product development is further enhanced by complimentary programme supports, including for festivals and events, business supports and training, and marketing and promotions aimed at enhancing, animating and promoting the overall tourism offering. Ultimately, in addition to enhancing the overall visitor experience for the benefit of visitors, the intention is to optimise key assets for the benefit of tourism and sustainable development through increasing the geographic spread of visitors, promoting season extension and supporting sustainable growth management.

With specific regard to tourism capital investment, I look forward to the development and enhancement of tourist attractions and activity-based tourism to provide the type and quality of experience that visitors are seeking. Some examples of these are the Céide Fields, an immersive experience in County Mayo, the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park, which I recently opened, and the visitor experience at Knowth, part of Brú na Bóinne in County Meath.

A highlight this year has been the redevelopment of Avondale House and Forest Park. This €16 million project, in partnership with Fáilte Ireland, Coillte and EAK, has transformed Avondale into a unique family attraction and a key new destination in Ireland's Ancient East. It opened this summer and will be a vibrant destination for domestic and international tourists. Avondale Forest Park is also open to visitors to explore and enjoy the established walking and cycling trails, orienteering courses and recreation area. Beyond the Trees Avondale won the tourism and hospitality project of the year award at the Irish Building and Design Awards last week.

In addition, part of Fáilte Ireland's capital funding programme comprises a large grants scheme, now under the Platforms for Growth investment programme, which targets project categories that have the greatest potential to enhance tourism across Ireland throughout the year. The first Platform for Growth launched in May 2019 and focused on developing immersive heritage and cultural attractions. These are attractions that appeal to overseas visitors looking for experiences that help them to connect with Ireland and bring the country's culture, heritage and people to life. Through this platform, Fáilte Ireland is investing in heritage and cultural attractions of scale that will motivate visitors to travel, either to and-or within Ireland, but without displacing the existing attractions of a destination or disturbing the competitiveness already in mature destinations. The overall objective is to deliver brilliant experiences that allow visitors to connect with Ireland and bring the national and local culture, heritage and people to life, while also delivering greater regional and seasonal spread of tourism.

In April of last year, €19 million worth of investment was announced for the second platform, Platforms for Growth 2, to be used to develop world-class facility centres at 22 locations across the country where water-based activities are a key visitor attraction. This includes locations such as Tipperary, Sligo and Leitrim, to name but a few. These facilities, designed to serve as a hub in each locality from which multiple watersports operators can base themselves, will provide hot showers, changing and toilet facilities, secure storage, induction spaces, equipment wash-down and orientation points. They will be fully wheelchair accessible and built using sustainability best practice, such as solar heating panels. This investment scheme was developed in partnership between Fáilte Ireland and local authorities and will support the local economy.

In addition to funding provided under the Platforms for Growth approach to large grants schemes, Fáilte Ireland also provides further capital supports to tourism attractions and experiences in Ireland through other channels, including small grants schemes, strategic partnerships with other State bodies and some direct investments. The strategic partnerships include entities such as Waterways Ireland, the Office of Public Works and the Department of Rural and Community Development.

We are all conscious of the importance of tourism across all regions of the country. Fáilte Ireland develops, supports and promotes tourism at regional and county level, in line with the relevant tourism experience brand, which provides the overarching context for related marketing and enterprise supports and tourism product development. At a regional level, to guide medium to longer term development, Fáilte Ireland will deliver four new regional tourism strategies in 2022.

The regional strategies are currently undergoing a public consultation and they will set out a ten-year vision and five-year action plan for each region.

At a more local level, these four regional tourism strategies will be activated through a series of co-ordinated local destination and experience development plans, DEDPs, developed by Fáilte Ireland in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders including local authorities, local development companies, relevant State agencies and local community groups and tourism industry representatives.

Fáilte Ireland plans to have a total of 27 DEDPs live by the end of this year. By 2025, every part of the country will have a destination development plan that is appropriate to its level of tourism maturity. There are four regional tourism experience brands in total covering the entire country and these are as follows: the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East, Dublin and Ireland's Hidden Heartlands.

One of the guiding principles of my Department is to deliver high-quality tourism experiences that exceed our visitors' expectations but in a manner that minimises any negative environmental or community impacts. As custodians of our natural landscape, waterways and oceans and of our historic and cultural assets, we will protect them for the next generation. I look forward to these future generations enjoying all that Ireland has to offer. The Government is committed to continuing to support and strengthen the tourism sector which plays such a vital role in our locality and wider society.

I will now deal with the purpose of the Bill in detail. The National Tourism Development Authority Act was passed in 2003 to dissolve Bord Fáilte Éireann and the Council for Education, Recruitment and Training, CERT, and establish the national tourism development authority, Fáilte Ireland. Section 24(1) of that Act gives the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the power to advance, out of money provided by the Oireachtas, such sums as the Minister may determine. Section 24(2) limits the total amount of money that can be advanced by the Minister to Fáilte Ireland as capital expenditure on projects or enterprises.

However, annual funding allocations are made in the normal way through the Estimates and budgetary process. This limit on total capital funding was originally set at €65 million but was later increased to €150 million and then €300 million under the National Tourism Development Authority (Amendment) Acts 2011 and 2016.

Taking into account the 2022 capital allocation to Fáilte Ireland, investment in tourism capital projects is now approaching that limit. Once the spending limit has been reached, no further voted capital moneys may be advanced to Fáilte Ireland for tourism capital investment projects. Accordingly, it is now prudent to legislate for an increase in the limit. I am introducing this Bill to make the necessary legislative change. I commend the Bill to the House.

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