Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this item for debate and I thank the Minister of State for attending.

This is a critical issue for the tourism industry in the midlands. I have highlighted this to find out why the midlands has been excluded from the second biggest overseas market. It is said there are 44 million people in the US who claim Irish ancestry. In 2012, the advertisement that was run in the United States vacation planner published by Tourism Ireland and distributed throughout the USA, with a circulation of 175,000, made no reference to the midlands. The map that was published left the midlands completely blank and indicated tourists coming to Ireland could tour from Dublin to Dublin along the coastline in ten days doing 122 miles per day. In the advertising material in the same publication in 2010, three pages were dedicated to the midlands that highlighted the mix of amenities we have to offer, from Mullingar to Athlone, Longford, Enniskillen, Roscommon, Carrick-on-Shannon and Tullamore. It is not just an issue affecting my constituency; it affects the entire midlands region.

The only advertisement run in the 2012 publication was organised by Belvedere House and Gardens itself, with the tag line "Your President did it, you can too.", making a play on the fact President Obama visited the midlands when he came to Ireland in 2011. When we talk about the Government's jobs strategy, tourism has been highlighted as a central plank of the strategy, and the statistics used by Fáilte Ireland for The Gathering suggest that for every 70 overseas visitors who come to Ireland, a job is created. Why, then, did the Government let Tourism Ireland leave the midlands blank when advertising in the second biggest market?

The midlands has plenty to offer any tourist. In my constituency, Westmeath County Council developed Belvedere House and Gardens at a cost of more than €10 million. Athlone castle was recently renovated. There is the Hill of Uisneach, Kilbeggan distillery, one of the largest whiskey distilleries in the world, Kilbeggan race course, the Royal Canal, the Grand Canal, the River Shannon, huge numbers of lakes and Abbeyshrule, just down the road from my own home, which is the tidiest town in Ireland. Tourism Ireland, however, has still chosen to leave the midlands out of its advertising in the United States.

It is very disappointing the Government has let this happen and shows its neglect of the midlands. Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of mullingar.ie. This initiative was developed by a number of prominent business people and community activists in Mullingar, supported by Westmeath County Council, the county enterprise board, Leader, the Chamber of Commerce and Celtic Media, the group that owns the Westmeath Examiner. They have designed a website to promote Mullingar and to show all there is to offer. International stars Niall Horan of One Direction and Niall Breslin come from Mullingar, as did the late, great Joe Dolan. The members of this group are doing it for themselves, they are not relying on the Government to market them.

Why in 2012 were the midlands omitted from Tourism Ireland marketing in the United States? It is not the Minister of State's responsibility but I want a clear commitment in the House that this will not be repeated in 2013. The midlands have plenty to offer and I want to ensure we get an equal amount of advertising by Tourism Ireland.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I am replying to this topical issue on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, who unfortunately cannot be in the Chamber this evening.

In so far as this issue relates to advertising by Tourism Ireland, the matter raised is purely operational for the agency concerned. The Minister has no role in day to day matters such as the content or design of advertising by either Tourism Ireland or indeed the tourism industry.

Tourism Ireland is the all-island tourism marketing company established under the Good Friday Agreement by the then Bord Fáilte and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Its memorandum and articles of association govern its operations and it is accountable to its board and, at policy level, to the North-South Ministerial Council established under the Good Friday Agreement. The company has responsibility for all-Ireland destination marketing, the tourism brand Ireland, the delivery of regional and product marketing and promotion activity on behalf of Fáilte Ireland and the NITB, and the overseas office network. It receives funding both from my Department and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland.

As a North-South body, Tourism Ireland operates under a business plan which is approved by the North-South Ministerial Council. Day to day decisions are made within the context of that business plan. While an annual business plan is agreed by the NSMC, the plan simply gives a broad overview of strategy and targets for the year. Ministers have no role in terms of deciding the details for material used in the overall promotion of the island. Not only would it be impractical to have such a hands-on role, it would also be highly inappropriate to have involvement in such decision making. I do not claim to have any expertise in the business of advertising and marketing but it is my job to protect the interests of the taxpayer by ensuring that such material is what is most effective in driving business, rather than what is reflective of local interests.

With regard to the specific issue raised by the Deputy, I am informed that Tourism Ireland does promote the midlands as part of its extensive global destination marketing programme in the US and in other key markets overseas. In this regard, some recent activity in the US has included in April Tourism Ireland targeting 2 million potential US visitors in key gateway cities with a promotion on the lakelands region, which included a video on President Obama's visit to Moneygall. Tourism Ireland also invites key US media and trade contacts to visit Ireland and the midlands region to experience at first-hand the wealth of things to see and do here for American holidaymakers. In September, representatives of top-producing American travel companies visited Ireland to attend a workshop with over 120 tourism providers, including many representatives of the midlands region. Their itinerary while here included a visit to Clonmacnoise in County Offaly and Castle Durrow in County Laois.

More generally, it is important to note that Tourism Ireland's current advertising campaigns in the United States, Jump into Ireland and The Gathering Ireland 2013, are not geographically specific but feature aspects of Irish tourism products, activities and attractions which research has shown appeal to US visitors.

In a long-haul and large market such as the US, it is clearly Ireland that is to be promoted as a destination and attempting to promote smaller regions on a stand-alone basis would be counter-productive. It should also be noted that US visitors to Ireland are very region-friendly and visit several areas, including the midlands and particularly on CIE tours, during their visits which, on average, last for approximately nine days.

In terms of future priorities, obviously our main focus will be on The Gathering Ireland 2013. The event will be the biggest tourism initiative ever staged in Ireland and will consist of a year-long programme of festivals, events and other gatherings in every region of the country. The aim is to bring an additional 325,000 overseas visitors to Ireland. The Gathering 2013 is targeted at people living abroad with a connection to Ireland, whether through birth, ancestry, family connections, friendships, business, education or personal interest as well as at those who simply are curious about Ireland. Tourism Ireland is actively promoting The Gathering in our main overseas markets and I am aware that the midlands region has a number of planned gatherings next year which will be included.

Obviously the US market generally remains critical to Irish tourism. Visitors from this market continue to stay longer and spend more than the average overseas visitor to Ireland. Fortunately, we have performed strongly in terms of visits from North America recently. Last year alone we had more than 1 million visits from North America which was an increase of 8.1% on 2010 while figures for the first nine months of this year show a further slight increase of 0.6 % compared with the corresponding period in 2011. Tourism Ireland recently undertook a wide-ranging review of the market and it has set the ambitious target of achieving further growth of over 20% in visits from the US by the end of 2015. I have no doubt that all areas of Ireland, including the midlands, will benefit from such growth. I am quite certain Deputy Troy will be welcoming all these US visitors to the midlands. I look forward to continuing close co-operation between the tourism agencies and all tourism stakeholders to ensure these ambitious targets are met, which no doubt they will.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State said that operational matters are matters for the agency, and I agree. Now that we have highlighted a specific issue, however, I want the Minister of State to intervene to ensure there is a level playing pitch and every part of Ireland gets equal marketing. Everyone knows that parts of the country are getting preferential treatment in terms of marketing and attracting foreign visitors, which is unfair. The midlands has plenty to offer, including the Royal Canal, Grand Canal, River Shannon, the lakes and many other amenities such as Belvedere House and gardens, all of which I have highlighted. I want the Minister of State to give a commitment that either he or the Minister will raise this issue with Tourism Ireland to ensure the midlands gets fair treatment. I have a copy of the advertisement showing an entire section of Ireland was left without marketing. It was just blank, as if the midlands were a desert island.

The Minister of State mentioned The Gathering and many good projects in the midlands are in the offing, but they are all community driven. Last night in Mullingar the community led in launching www.mullingar.ie to show what we have to offer in that provincial town in Westmeath. I want the Minister of State to give a commitment that he will to speak to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to ensure the midlands - a broad region encompassing more than just my constituency - will get fair play in terms of advertising in 2013 because we have not got it in 2012. In the equivalent publication in 2010, we got three pages but nothing in 2012, which is unfair and needs to be addressed.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I believe last night's event was funded by State agencies. The Deputy mentioned Enterprise Ireland, county councils and Leader, all of which are funded by the State. They are obviously very actively involved with Mullingar which is a very important initiative to launch. They will be funded by State agencies as well. It is very much driven by the community and is about public private partnership, which is how tourism should be.

The Deputy is talking about one piece of literature and I have no doubt that does not represent what was stated in the reply. Nobody is excluding the midlands in any sense. There is a video with President Obama which is being actively promoted in the US. The North-South body, Tourism Ireland, has a job to do and it is not appropriate for the Minister, as he correctly said, to intervene in a region. However, the entire island of Ireland will be actively promoted. The Deputy has cited one piece of literature he has seen, but it is not reflective of Fáilte Ireland in any sense in the promotion of the region. It is very much actively promoted.

When people come here from the US on a nine day trip, it does not mean they just go to Dublin and Cork and do not go up through the midlands. From my experience, people tour the country. They have destination stops all over the region. It is unfair to say people do not visit the middle of the country - Athlone and the surrounding regions. That would be a long stretch of the imagination and I do not believe that is the case. There are significant attractions there and no doubt people are visiting the region. There was huge promotion with President Obama coast to coast in the US. It is being used by Fáilte Ireland in the US at the moment. The Gathering represents an opportunity for everybody to get involved.

The Minister has delegated to Tourism Ireland the function of branding Ireland as a place to come. Last year 1 million visitors came from the US alone and next year there is an expectation of increasing visitor numbers by 325,000. I have no doubt that State agencies and the private sector will play a role in promoting the region. I have no doubt the tourism body in the region is very actively involved. I am quite certain the transcript of this script will be going to Fáilte Ireland as well. Clearly, there is only one piece of literature to which the Deputy referred in which he felt there was an omission. By and large that would not be the mindset of Fáilte Ireland. That is only one publication. I have cited many other-----

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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It is the main publication for vacations in America.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy stated that there was no intention to promote the vast region in the middle of the country. That is not the case.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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And it will not happen next year. I thank the Minister of State.