John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leader for agreeing to take the Bill this morning. I am here to report on amendments made on Report Stage in the Dáil yesterday and on Committee Stage on 20 February. Contributions from all sides in both Houses showed Members' strong appreciation of the importance of tourism to the economy and a high degree of support for the Government's endeavours to put in place an appropriate institutional architecture in the years ahead.

Since the Bill was last before the House the following amendments have been made. In the Title, in page 5, line 8, after "AS", "AN tÚDARÁS NÁISIÚNTA FORBARTHA TURASÓIREACHTA OR IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" has been inserted. In section 7, page 6, subsection (1), line 43, after "as", "an tÚdarás Náisiúnta Forbartha Turasóireachta or in the English language" has also been inserted. In section 7 the Irish language title of the authority, An tÚdarás Náisiúnta Forbartha Turasóireachta, was inserted. This amendment also affected the title of the Bill, which was also amended.

In section 8, page 8, line 14, "or" was deleted and in page 8, line 23, "project." was deleted and the following substituted: "project, or (d) provide training to persons in connection with the tourism industry in the State." In section 8 two amendments were made relating to the authority's direct involvement in the provision of training. There was some concern on the part of CERT staff that the current text of the Bill, while it allowed the authority to encourage, promote and support training, might not allow it to provide training directly. In order to remove any doubt and allay staff anxieties I decided to make the text more explicit and make it quite clear that the authority could provide training.

In section 8, page 8, line 31, after "Government", "(including policies of the Government relating to the Irish language and culture)" was inserted. An amendment was also made to section 8 to make sure the authority had regard to the policies of the Government regarding the Irish language and culture. During the debates on the Bill I was struck by the number of speakers who referred to the need to develop, in a sensitive way, the tourism potential of our language and associated culture. This amendment will send a useful signal in this regard.