Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was struck by the comments of the new CEO of Tourism Ireland reported in this morning's edition of The Irish Times. "We have a calculation around revenue per carbon footprint," she said. She continued: "If we're going to bring someone from the other side of the world, we're going to make sure we target [those who are] valued-added, and [not those] coming in and out, leaving a carbon footprint, but without bringing value." She also discussed capacity constraints at Dublin Airport and in the accommodation sector, and said there was "still room for growth" but that it "needs to be responsible growth".

I have a number of questions around that. On the one hand it seems sort of ideologically neutral but sometimes the application of something that appears ideologically neutral has a profoundly biased effect. Increasingly, and for a long period of time, we have had a concentration of all tourists coming into Dublin and being bused for a day to the Cliffs of Moher and back again. Is there any examination of how sustainable that is? Is there any examination of whether there is a very wealthy or not-so-wealthy cohort of people who wish to see, travel to and stay in the west of Ireland, so they are not coming into an overcrowded airport through an overcrowded city to be driven across the country and back again? They might, perhaps, buy a cup of coffee or perhaps not. Perhaps they will go to the toilet and if they do, that is as much as they do.

Is there a tourism strategy that takes account of that? If not, any talk about sustainability and sustainable tourism is nonsense. All it does is say that because there is a shortage of beds in certain parts of the country, we need to just bring in very wealthy tourists. Is there any consideration of the effect that the Government's policy on housing refugees, people seeking asylum and people who are beneficiaries of temporary protection is having on our tourism sector? I understand that, as a stopgap measure, one takes whatever is available. However, we all accept - the Taoiseach, his Government and Ministers included - that this is no longer a short-term issue but a longer term issue. Between 40% and 50% of the hotel beds in Clare are filled with such people. I am not saying they do not need a bed - they clearly do - but, arguably, if they are to integrate into our economy, they need a bed where they can get a job. There are not a load of jobs in Lisdoonvarna, unfortunately. There are lots of them in Dublin. What is the Government's long-term plan around tourism and the sustainability of the tourism sector?

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