Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week I mentioned in the Dáil that we may not have places for tourists in this country next year. Figures from Fáilte Ireland for 2019 show international and Irish tourist yielded an estimated €9.5 billion. Tourism gives employment to 270,000 people. The industry must be supported and protected. A total of 70% of these jobs are outside Dublin. Tourism is a huge regional employer. It provides employment for students and there are spin-offs for local retailers, suppliers and the agri-marine community.

While there was a great rebound in 2022 the industry is very nervous of the winter ahead. The escalating costs, hyperinflation and economic slowdown are not helping. The VAT rate must be retained at 9%. We need to stay in line with our European neighbours to remain competitive.

According to the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation 75% of Ireland's tourism economy is made up of international tourists. Affordable access to our country through air and sea is vital as we are an island nation. Support for our airports in a meaningful way is critical to this end. Dublin Airport had 86% of the country's passengers in 2019. All other airports in the whole of Ireland had only 14% of the passengers. The spare capacity at State airports such as Shannon Airport needs to be utilised. This would not only alleviate the congestion in Dublin Airport but also benefit the local economy and the entire economy of the country. Shannon Airport is an underutilised resource. Will anyone here explain the reason for the imbalance if the current trend continues? Will the Minister explain this to me? Ireland is unique with the concentration of traffic into one dominant airport, which is Dublin Airport. This is something the Minister can take back to the Cabinet. Throughout Europe no other national airport accounts for such a high proportion of traffic. In the whole of Europe, where the Government goes to listen, Ireland is the only place where most of the traffic goes through the national airport even though we have alternatives.

There are huge concerns about our accommodation crisis for Ukrainians and asylum seekers in the season ahead. Hotels and guest houses cannot be the only solution as otherwise we will not have the capacity for the tourism sector. The Government needs alternatives to hotels in our tourist areas to meet the accommodation demand.

I have just said that 70% of tourism goes through the hotels in Ireland. When I leave Limerick city I go through Patrickswell to Adare, which has Fitzgerald's Woodlands House Hotel and the Dunraven Arms Hotel.

If I head west, I have the Rathkeale House Hotel on to Longcourt House Hotel in Newcastlewest and Leens Hotel in Abbeyfeale. If I turn east and head towards Kilmallock, I have Deebert House Hotel as well as all the hostels, bed and breakfast accommodation, and different accommodation centres around the country. However, the exchange rate for the dollar has never been as good for American and other tourists coming to this country, which makes it affordable for them to do so. I am conscious of where we are going to put them if we do not have alternatives. Not only that, it will have a knock-on effect on all the shops used by tourists, such as bike shops and coffee shops, and all the knick-knacks supplied around the country.

Members have talked about other counties. They have to travel through Limerick to get to most of them and, therefore, I believe Limerick is the best county in Ireland for anyone to start off and they can go to the other tourist destinations thereafter.

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