Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for his overview of the situation. I also wish Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland well with their plans.

I am delighted to see the Minister alive and well after his recent visit to the IHF where we both learned about the difficulties facing the sector, although we already knew about them. The Minister made an unexpected visit to a place I have an affinity with, the Killarney Golf and Fishing Club. He saw the three championship golf courses, the warmth of the welcome there and the great tourism product it offers. Fáilte Ireland is a 70% stakeholder in that fine facility and there is great co-operation between the club and Fáilte Ireland, something that will continue. I know the Minister will continue to nurture it and in that regard I wish him every success.

I was delighted to hear what he said about the convention meetings and other business groups that Fáilte Ireland's business forum is encouraging to come to our shores. I am also delighted the Minister is going to meet the banks on the crucial question of the availability of working capital and the treatment of businesses in this sector. Many such businesses in the south west and elsewhere are hard pressed in these difficult times. To see us through this crisis it is important the banks are sympathetic and understanding. They should be prepared to defer interest payments where necessary as well as rolling over and reconstituting business loans and overdrafts.

The Minister has established a group under the chairmanship of Mr. Maurice Pratt and I wish it well. It is examining business and cultural tourism which form a key part of the way forward and are so important to the future of our economy.

One of the most patriotic things any citizen could do is to holiday at home this summer and encourage one's relations and friends to do likewise. This would protect vital jobs in the tourism sector. The recent release of tourism figures highlighted the fact that 2009 will be a challenging time for our tourism industry, as the Minister has outlined. Visitors from Britain, our biggest market, accounted for most of the 8.4% drop in January 2009, continuing the downward trend of last year. Our tourism is a vital source of employment, accounting for more than 300,000 jobs throughout the country, and is especially important in the south west.

A number of tourism initiatives should be introduced to attract more visitors to Ireland, including a concerted marketing effort, particularly in the United States, specifically targeting the Irish diaspora. In addition, a new golfing tourism initiative could build on the successes of Padraig Harrington and Rory Mcllroy as ambassadors of Irish golf, with co-operation from golf clubs on more flexible pricing arrangements. In fairness, however, we now have competitive green fee rates. The Minister will have heard of the tremendous marketing efforts we are spearheading in Killarney under the guidance of our general manager, Mr. Maurice O'Meara. Other golf clubs are doing likewise and we encourage any of them who are not yet behind the effort to do so quickly.

Rigorous enforcement of quality standards for sewage treatment systems by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is required to avoid water contamination such as we had in Ennis and Galway. This resulted in much damage to the tourism industry during peak season in the recent past.

The tourism sector undoubtedly is suffering from poor decisions such as the introduction of the airport departure levy and the failure to tackle spiralling business costs. My party has proposed a number of initiatives aimed at revitalising the sector, including a dedicated ring-fenced marketing budget for Shannon Airport, commencement of the Adare and Castleisland bypasses, production of a targeted tourism plan by September, extension of the deadline for the mid-Shannon investment scheme, and a dedicated marketing initiative to capture the potential of the pre-clearance facility to be introduced in Shannon this summer.

Unemployment, as we know, has exploded and in the south west the live register shows an increase of 83% in my county of Kerry and 88% in Cork since February 2008. The number of overseas trips fell by 8.4% to 502,100 in January 2009 compared with 548,400 recorded in January 2008. There were 424,200 overseas trips to Ireland in January 2009, which was a drop of almost 3% from the same month in 2008. Visits by residents of Great Britain accounted for virtually all of this decrease, falling by almost 16,000 or 7% to 208,300. There is an urgent need therefore to target the UK, our nearest neighbour, more aggressively. Residents of other European countries and North America recorded slight increases to 149,500 and 45,200, respectively.

We obviously need to build on this and providing free travel for European senior citizens would be a useful initiative. It was recently suggested by the Irish Hotels Federation. The Minister must have heard that suggestion in Killarney, as I did. Senior citizens have more time to travel and are more inclined to do so. It would be hoped they also would have useful disposable income that we would be happy to receive. It would not cost very much for rail and bus providers to make that free travel facility available to European senior citizens.

The tourism sector is one of the country's most important indigenous industries, worth an estimated €6 billion to the economy and employing in excess of 320,000 people. It is especially valuable in the south west with an estimated four million tourists spending €1.2 million in 2007. However, we are shooting ourselves in the foot with the departure levy, holiday home tax, the hike in VAT and a failure to tackle cost and competitiveness issues. In addition, when funding was available, there was a failure to prevent restrictions in transport services or to invest adequately in tourism attractions such as the Natural History Museum, the Abbey Theatre and the National Archives. Now, when the cultural tourism product is such a vital part of the industry's future, funding is not available to maintain buildings or expand exhibition space. With regard to VAT, Senator Ellis could tell Members more about the need to become aligned with Northern Ireland's rates, thus encouraging more visitors to come south.

Speaking of cultural tourism, it was a major disappointment that Killarney House was not included in the Fáilte Ireland list of national products being funded. This is a truly historic house in a magnificent setting. It practically overlooks the lakes, yet it is almost in the town centre within easy access by all visitors to this tourism capital of the south west. This was the home of the Earls of Kenmare, Lord Castlerosse and, more recently, the late John McShain, the man who built Washington. At the moment it is being allowed to deteriorate further and I am asking bluntly what we are going to do to stop this rot which is surely a national disgrace and a major blot on the home of Irish tourism.

I understood the Minister's colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, was interested in this project being included. One presumes he still is. Despite an early hiccup, I believe his Department had not just vetted Killarney House but approved it for inclusion on that list of cultural tourism projects to be funded. Perhaps the Minister can comment on that point or let me know the position. Perhaps there is still hope for it. I sincerely hope there is.

A major concern of the tourism sector is the problem with the Office of Public Works with staffing levels and opening hours of visitor attractions. This has only recently been resolved locally because we all kicked up a fuss over the opening hours at Ross Castle in Killarney. They were restricted until there were strong objections and we all made suitable representations to the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh. I thank him for redressing the situation at Ross Castle.

One of the problems is the fragmentation of tourism. In Killarney, for instance, Ross Castle and Muckross Abbey come under the aegis of the OPW. Meanwhile, Killarney House and Muckross House come within the remit of the national parks and wildlife service. They should all be under the aegis of one body or Department. This fragmentation is not helping tourism. The restrictions on opening hours are akin to abandoning the plan to develop the National Museum at Collins Barracks. For years, the Government claimed it would develop the museum space as a new tourist attraction. Its recent confirmation that this is no longer the case came as a blow to the beleaguered sector and is a short-sighted cutback.

Reducing opening times at heritage sites is greatly hindering tourism and should also be reviewed urgently. How is tourism to flourish, or even recover from the collapse it is beginning to suffer, if some of our prime attractions are closed? I am pleased, however, the opening hours for Ross Castle were reinstated.

Other concerns of the sector include the introduction of the airport departure levy which has resulted in job losses and acted as a disincentive to tourists. It should be reviewed as the decline in business for regional airports is having a knock-on effect in regional areas, particularly in the south west with the difficulties facing Shannon Airport. Energy charges, local authority charges, VAT rates and taxi charges are adding to the cost of doing business for hotels and other tourism providers.

Inadequate transport links must be tackled. Fine Gael proposes a dedicated ring-fenced marketing budget for Shannon Airport which would benefit the south west. Transport routes must be enhanced with the production of a tourism plan by Shannon Development. The deadline for the mid-Shannon investment scheme must be extended. A dedicated marketing initiative must be launched to capture the potential of the customs pre-clearance facility to be introduced in Shannon this summer, the first of its kind in Europe. This will allow US visitors to clear customs at the airport and for it to grow routes to regional airports in the US. It should also stimulate spin-off tourism growth in the south west. Tourism employers should be exempted from paying PRSI on new staff to encourage recruitment, and cost issues must be tackled to ensure competitiveness is restored.

In the short time allocated for the debate, I have been only able to hint at the many and varied issues facing the tourism industry. I wish Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and the tourism renewal group under the chairmanship of Maurice Pratt well. So much of our tourism industry's future depends on their efforts and I hope they will bear fruit.