Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has done a fair advertising job there in terms of speaking about the amenities that are on offer. There are two that I would like to highlight and they may well be on the Minister's desk already, and those are the development of the blueways, particularly on the River Blackwater - the Minister referenced Cappoquin - and the Waterford estuary. We have great visitor attractions but, ideally, we need to try to develop great destinations where people will stay over, not just visit for an hour or two and move away. We are trying to develop a more long-term tourism proposal around all of these and that is why the RRDF and URDF - the urban and rural regeneration and development funds - are very important to try to give support in terms of accommodation and commercial business offshoots that can be developed around these projects.

I thank the Minister for her support, and she has been very supportive, to be fair. I look forward to engaging with the local authority. As I said, we will come to the Minister with further projects and I hope she will have a kind and listening ear.

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