Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

I join with my colleagues on all sides of the House in welcoming the Minister here today and thanking him for being with us. This is the second occasion he has been in the House in a short period of time which demonstrates that the Minister has taken up his new brief with great vigour and enthusiasm and is prepared to drive it at this important time.

I welcome the establishment of the national tourism development agency which sets out an important framework for the development of the industry. The setting up of this agency will see the disbandment of Bord Fáilte and CERT; both agencies provided an exceptional quality of service to this State for many years. We talked here today, and in previous debates, about the unprecedented levels of growth in tourism we have experienced in the past ten years and I have no doubt that growth was driven by the enthusiasm, dedication and work of Bord Fáilte and the board of directors. The same can be said about the work of the staff and the board of CERT and the commitment it has shown to this State for many years in terms of the development of the industry. We must congratulate those agencies on that and not forget them with the development of this new agency.

This Bill is an important development. We have talked about the crossroads in the industry and we have seen a decline of 10% in the figures for 2001. We are all familiar with the reasons for that decline – foot and mouth disease, the 11 September disaster and the economic downturn throughout the world – but an aspect which is often mentioned but on which there is not enough concentration is the competitive environment in which we now find ourselves. We talk about competition from other countries in terms of their ability to attract tourists and the way we are slipping behind in that regard to some extent. That is something we have to be careful of because it is probably the most important factor. The other factors – foot and mouth disease, 11 September and the downturn in the economy – are ones that other tourist destinations have suffered. We have a role to play in the competitive aspect and the Minister has rightly identified that as the key priority going forward, particularly with his review of the tourism sector and the work he and his Department intend to do in that area.

Senator Henry mentioned the element in relation to insurance. I have no doubt that is an important factor and one which is driving the cost base but, nonetheless, there are other pressures which need to be reviewed and I have no doubt that will be done as part of the Minister's review.