Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Government's proposal to expand the spending limit of €500 million to the tourism sector before the end of the year. I can promise the Minister it is extremely badly needed. In her opening address, the Minister highlighted that tourism has been Ireland's most important indigenous labour-intensive sector, generating substantial export earnings and tax revenues, and nobody would disagree with that statement. She also spoke of it being woven into the fabric of Irish cultural and social life and the critical role it plays in regional economies, and, again, there is no disagreement there. She also spoke of the multiplier effect on agriculture, the services sector and the indigenous sector in terms of hospitality, beverage, entertainment and so on. She has rightly identified that this is a very important sector in the country. I would go as far as to say it is probably most important in the regions of the country, given we do not have the same economies of scale as the large cities and, therefore, many people in rural parts of Ireland depend on some of the revenue that comes from tourism.

It is interesting the way Ireland has changed over the last 30 or 40 years. I can certainly remember as a youngster that Killarney and Galway were littered with bed and breakfasts and there were very few hotels, and those who went on holidays, by and large, did so in bed and breakfasts. We have had quite a big turnaround in that sector in recent years and we now have many hotels, but not in all parts of the country. There is also a real offering for a different type of holiday. The Minister mentioned the idea of experiential holidays, which is the way a lot of tourism seems to be going, and Ireland can certainly do well in that sector if we have the right product. However, we have to be able to tailor that to people's needs and to their pockets.

I want to speak about my own county and city, Waterford, the oldest city and the founding city of the country. Waterford city has had more American visitors this year than Irish visitors, and that is a first in any tourism year. We have seen the return of luxury liners to Dunmore East, which is very welcome. However, it has to be noted that we were restricted in the number of liners that we could bring in because the harbourmaster would only allow a certain number. The Minister's Department needs to talk to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for next year because we cannot have a repeat of that. We had business coming from liners that could not dock off Dunmore East. It is a great experience for all involved and it is much needed for the area.

We have five top-class museums in Waterford, including two new additions over the past two years, those being, the Irish Silver Museum and the Irish Museum of Time, which is recognised as a stand-out world-class museum. We also have the Waterford Museum of Treasures, which is having its busiest year ever. What is amazing about this group of museums is that they charge people admission. I could leave the House tonight and go into the National Museum next door for free, but I cannot go into any museum in Waterford for free. I have to pay. This is a serious inequity for the likes of the Waterford Museum of Treasures. Why are we not giving enough funding to attractions around the country to support them with this? Most visitors to Waterford do not buy tickets to all five museums. Instead, they buy one or two tickets because doing otherwise would be too expensive even though they might like to see the other museums. We are losing out because of this.

As the Minister knows, we have a great culture festival in Waterford. She attended Spraoi last year and Winterval will be held at Christmas. We also have the West Waterford Festival of Food. We have people who are clued into creating indigenous and foreign tourist appeal in our city and county, but they need support. Spraoi has pointed out that extra funding was provided during Covid last year, for which I thank the Minister, but we do not do well in the funding stakes overall. I was on a council for a year and I know it is difficult for the local authority to find funding. Will the Minister consider this matter, particularly for the coming year, which will be hard on the retail and tourism sectors?

We have five blue flag beaches in the county. They are top class in every way, but I am involved in an initiative that is trying to bring beach wheelchairs onto some of them. These are wheelchairs for disabled people that would run on the beach. Disabled people who are wheelchair bound cannot get onto the beaches because their wheelchairs' wheels are generally too narrow to travel across the sand. They certainly cannot get near the water. Beach wheelchairs would allow for that.

That is one issue. Another is that Tramore, which is one of the largest and busiest beaches in Waterford, needs a disability changing room with a hoist. We need to be able to present ourselves as an inclusive town, city and resort which people in wheelchairs can visit and where, if needs be, they can change and be hoisted. Otherwise, they cannot come. There is a significant number of people to whom the seaside experience is not available. This matter has been raised at council meetings, where funding is always pointed to as the issue, but we are not talking about big money in the grand scheme of things. Will the Minister consider this matter?

I wish to address the marketing of Waterford. I am not a fan of Ireland's Ancient East. I always thought that we should have been brought into the Wild Atlantic Way, but we were not. However, we have the Copper Coast, which is a stand-out area of special conservation. I have a concern about Ireland's policy on wind generation off the south coast, though. There are three separate wind farms proposed for off the south coast of Waterford and east Cork. Later this week, a briefing will be given in the AV room by the ESB. The ESB tells us that it will have wind pylons 12 km from shore, which is approximately 7 miles. Those pylons will be 350 m high and there will be an array of 60 to 70 of them per field. I ask that the Government take a long, hard look at its wind generation policy before it starts planting a plethora of turbines down in one of the most scenic parts of the country. We in Waterford are prepared to do our bit to support the national energy crisis and sustainable energy, but not at the cost of our amenities.

Since the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is a representative of the Green Party, I will ask her two questions on wind energy. First, what will the community dividend of these three wind farms be to the coastal communities? I have met some of the promoters involved and I understand that the community dividend is payable over 15 years, yet the life of these licences will be 25 years and the life of these farms will be 50 years. Will the Minister examine this matter? Second, is the Government considering putting a ratchet in place so that we can understand what price the Irish people will pay for our indigenous wind generation as opposed to the price at which we will export it? If required, the Government could step in whenever it wishes and use a known formula to take ownership by nationalising the wind generation infrastructure. We must hold off on awarding any of these licences until we review the situation. I have a strong concern that wind energy will end up in a Corrib-type situation, particularly where wind off the south coast is concerned, in that we will be left looking at the wind turbines blotting our landscape and will be paying more for the energy while getting very little by way of recompense. I ask that the Minister raise this matter with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.

Our night-time economy is in terrible order. There need to be supports for business. The energy situation is critical, but the issue of staffing is also difficult. We are probably heading into a recession. We cannot have the vibrant cultural tourism offering that the Minister spoke about if we do not have private businesses that can actually stay in business. In recent weeks, Revenue has been getting tough on people in the service and hospitality sector in terms of the moneys they owe by issuing demand letters, increasing rates and so on. We cannot have talk in the House about helping sectors unless we put money on the ground to support business and staffing. Will the Minister consider this matter?

I have been trying to help the Government with the insurance sector. Legislation on occupiers' liability is forthcoming and the reform of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, will pass before the end of the year, but we still need significant pressure from the Government. Regarding children's activities, for example, bouncy castle operators are now finished, as are people with climbing frames, because they cannot get insurance. How are we to attract families and small children with our tourism offering if we cannot allow them to play safely because we do not have adequate insurance cover in place or we have not regulated the courts enough to ensure they are not awarding exceptional damages for light injuries?

I support the additional moneys, which I hope to see allocated fairly once stakeholders in the tourism sector are spoken to. They can say how best the moneys can be spent and where they will have the most effect.

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