James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism to the House for a debate on the future role of the regional tourism boards which have, I believe, outlived their usefulness. Throughout the country counties are setting up county committees because they have lost confidence in the boards. A new structure needs to be put in place to focus on regions with a product to sell, for example, the Shannon region, the garden county of Wicklow, the Slieve Bloom region, the ring of Kerry and so on. There should be more focus on the identity of regions, as happens on the Continent.

It also concerns me greatly that none of the tourism boards here have guides with foreign languages. If we depend on people from Europe and further afield to visit here, guides with foreign languages are necessary. That is something we lack compared to mainland Europe. There is much to be examined regarding the development of tourism.