David Norris (Independent)

I am grateful to my colleague, Senator Quinn, for allowing me to share his time. He is somebody with considerable expertise in this area and I sincerely hope he did not cut himself short.

I welcome the Minister to the House. He may like to know we are discussing the report on the task force on immigration this afternoon. I expect it will come as some relief to him that he is now in a Ministry that handles tourism rather than these other matters, although he has done a good job in both, so far anyway.

While listening to the debate on the monitor, I was struck by the absence of reference to the establishment of the national tourism development authority on an all-island basis. It is striking that we have this united approach where there is co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Republic. It is very significant. These slow moves behind the scenes are crucially important in building a good relationship between both parts of the island. I notice that it can be called Fáilte Ireland and presume that is principally for the south although I am sure the idea of fáilte extends across the Border.