John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to bring this Bill before the Seanad. I made a major statement on tourism to the House in recent weeks and do not propose to rehearse the same ground in what I have to say today. The Bill is tightly focused and its purpose is to provide a statutory basis for a new national tourism development authority. When the authority is established, Bord Fáilte and CERT will be dissolved and their functions transferred to the new body. The Bill also provides that certain provisions of the Tourist Traffic Acts will be repealed to take account of its provisions.