Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a rural Deputy, I thank Deputy O'Reilly for her advice on how I should spend my time. Notwithstanding her advice, I wish to raise the ongoing controversy regarding Shannon Heritage sites. There is a difficulty at a national level in that they fall between a number of different Departments. It seems to me that the issue of what is going to happen to them is being shuttled between various Departments, with very few concrete decisions having been made to date. If I am wrong on that, I would be delighted to receive confirmation that a decision has been made.

Shannon Heritage is a component part of the recently renamed Shannon Airport Group. It has three component parts, namely, the airport, Shannon Commercial Properties and Shannon Heritage, which comprises the former Shannon development sites which are tourist attractions in Clare and throughout the mid-west. These sites include Bunratty Castle, Craggaunowen Castle and Knappogue Castle in County Clare, Dunguaire Castle in Galway Bay, which is in County Galway, and King John's Castle in Limerick, which was always under the ownership of the old Limerick Corporation and its successor-in-title, Limerick City and County Council.

When Shannon Heritage was part of the Shannon Group in 2019, there were proposals for a rather large investment in the sites, in particular Bunratty Castle. I note The Irish Timesran with a figure of €8 million and I had heard €10 million was to be invested. It was to be a joint investment by the Shannon Group on the one hand and Fáilte Ireland on the other. There is a tacit acknowledgement that there is a need for capital investment in Bunratty Castle. I understand Fáilte Ireland had agreed in principle, at least, to obtain an application for the investment. My understanding is that it was pretty much agreed that it would proceed. Covid intervened of course. The Shannon Group's finances were greatly affected by Covid, as Shannon Airport is one of its component parts. Like other airports in the State it was devastated, perhaps even more than other airports, due to the tendency of airlines to concentrate their activities in the major hubs which, in the Irish context, for now at least, is Dublin Airport.

As Shannon Heritage seeks to find a home for itself, given that Shannon Airport Group does not seem to have any great interest in it and is seeking to divest itself of the Shannon Heritage site, Clare County Council expressed an interest in it. In general terms, I have reservations about county councils running tourism businesses. However, it should be said that Clare County Council is already running the Cliffs of Moher site very effectively. It has a large number of visitors and is a huge tourist attraction. If I am not mistaken, it is the second biggest tourism attraction after the Guinness Hop Store. It is successful in that regard. The county council has worked to develop the Vandeleur Walled Gardens, which is part of the Vandeleur estate in west Clare, as well as Loop Head.

The problem is that a large number of people fly to Dublin Airport because in Ireland all roads lead to Dublin. Everybody flies into Dublin Airport and then gets a bus to the Cliffs of Moher for a day and a bus back to Dublin. Apart from the carbon footprint that involves, it also results in a concentration of activity around the Cliffs of Moher and not enough footfall in the rest of County Clare. If only on that basis, whoever is running the Cliffs of Moher would be an ideal person to run these sites. The track record of Clare County Council means I would support its interest in acquiring the sites, notwithstanding my general reservations about county councils running tourism sites.

The primary focus of county councils should be on providing local government services. There is an increasing tendency of national government to strip those services away from them, whether it is in planning and the degree of autonomy councils once enjoyed being eroded by recent developments in that regard or Irish Water and water services. Employees of Clare County Council who work in the water services division are, like those in every other county council in the country, wondering what is going to happen and who they are going to work for next.

We are here to talk about the Bunratty sites. There are many workers there who are also wondering who they will work for next, what their status will be and what will happen to their careers. A number of those staff are extremely dedicated. Any I have met are very dedicated to these sites and have worked in them all of their lives. The political pass-the-potato is unhelpful. The Minister might ask what this has to do with her Department. She may or may not be aware, but I hope she is, that I recently sent her a copy of a letter I sent the Taoiseach to ask that somebody be appointed to head this up. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, heads the Department of Transport, and Shannon Group falls within that Department. Clare County Council is under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, headed by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has line responsibility for Fáilte Ireland which had already agreed in principle that a large investment in Bunratty was appropriate.

The issue is now the funding of the transfer. Fáilte Ireland and, I believe, Shannon Heritage have accepted the capital investment is required in these sites, in particular in Bunratty but perhaps also the other sites. If the money was forthcoming in 2019 for a capital investment to bring it up to the required standard, one of the fears of Clare County Council is that if it takes it over, it would have to put significant capital investment into it. Why is it not being transferred with the benefit of that funding? Can the Minister confirm that the Fáilte Ireland funding is still available?

I see no reason that Shannon Airport should not have to invest the sum of money it previously proposed to invest. If it wishes to divest itself of the site, perhaps it needs to divest itself of some of the money that would be required to bring it up to the necessary standard and put up that money by way of the capital investment that Clare County Council is to require. I have asked other Ministers questions and have received various responses to the effect that it should get on with it and that things are not over. The one-liners are wearing a bit thin. I am getting a bit tired of them. I can only imagine what the staff of Shannon Heritage are feeling at the moment as their livelihoods are dependent on this.

I can also only imagine what the broader tourism sector in Clare is feeling when we talk about all of our attractions. I did not hear all of the contributions but I heard Deputy Kelly's and I have to agree with him as somebody who is on the other side of Lough Derg. Clare County Council is talking about a very significant investment in Inis Cealtra, Holy Island, which I welcome. Bunratty Castle is a national site everyone knows. It has been very heavily promoted over the years and it is kind of important to our tourism sector, or at least it should be. Allowing this issue to linger is not beneficial.

I support the Bill that the Minister is putting before the House because it is about investment and it would be slightly hypocritical of me to call for the investment that Fáilte Ireland said it was prepared to make in Shannon Airport and vote against providing the funding that is required to do so. I ask the Minister, even if she would not be very popular for doing so, to raise this at Cabinet as one of the four line Ministers with the Taoiseach and the Ministers for Transport and Housing, Local Government and Heritage. They have some responsibility towards Bunratty Castle to make sure that we do not enter another tourism season with that degree of uncertainty hanging over it and other such sites.

I support the Minister's Bill and I acknowledge the necessity to invest in Fáilte Ireland in order that it has sufficient funding to provide the capital investment required in all sorts of sites across the country, including the Shannon heritage sites.

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