Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá an-áthas orm go bhfuil an díospóireacht seo ag tarlú, cé go raibh sé againn go rialta go dtí seo. Tá athrú ag teacht ar stádas na turasóireachta an t-am ar fad. Maidir le sin, tá sé tábhachtach go mbeadh seans againn — ag braith ar an taithí atá againn — ár dtuairimí a nochtadh chuile lá agus chuile seachtain. I am delighted we are having this debate again. We have had it on several occasions. Very often on the Order of Business tourism is mentioned. This is as it should be because it is almost a moveable feast. The tourism environment is changing and business is becoming more competitive. People, perhaps because of economic pressures, have decided we should achieve value for money. All these issues arise and for this reason it is important to have a continuing debate on and assessment of what is happening on the ground.

Kerry people are particularly good at promoting their own county. This was evident today but it is evident generally. Deputy Jimmy Deenihan has done me the honour of asking me to officially open his conference on cultural tourism tomorrow night. It will be held in Listowel. The reason I mention this is that Listowel is an example of how tourism should be promoted. The people there live their culture and cultural tourism. Perhaps this is the point made by Senator Feargal Quinn with regard to people power when dealing with visitors. We should not always be checking the till to see how much money we are getting. The money will come.

It is absolutely vital that our reputation for friendship is cultivated and that we are particularly careful to be attentive to the needs of visitors. Often that is not very tangible. One must listen and see precisely what they want. Visitors may want to trace their ancestors and, for example, if their name is "Clifford", one may be able to tell them that a family of that name lived down the road two generations ago and that if they visit the local cemetery they might see the grave space or the remnants of the homestead.

I saw a case where a family came back from the United States to a particular part of County Clare. They wanted to see where was the homestead but all that was left was a heap of stones where the grass was growing. They photographed the particular site. They picked up little stones and put them into their pockets to bring them back to the United States. To the cynic, this might seem like an unusual exercise, but to the visitor it is part of their spiritual inheritance. This is more powerful than all the advertisements on television or in the newspapers. It has an emotive and emotional context of which we must be conscious.

I will mention Cashel later and I will not miss the opportunity to do so, but with regard to Listowel, there are more writers per sq. ft. in Listowel than in any part of the world. One could name ten significant writers from there. One must ask oneself why is this the case. One reason relates to something Bryan MacMahon stated on a television programme and mentioned in one of his books. The local library service asked him whether a branch could be established in his school and he told them not to do so but to establish it in the building across the road. When he was asked why, he explained that if the library was established in the school it would be associated with the school but if it was established in another building it would be associated with the community. The context of community for tourism is absolutely vital.

I examined the statistics for January and these are encouraging when one considers the numbers. I went to get my hair done a short time ago and the barber mentioned that places were busy and that there were many visitors around. To hear this from people shows that the resilience of our tourism industry will stand us in good stead. I can remember going to the United States at the height of the Northern Ireland troubles and meeting people there who knew nothing about it except the headlines in the newspapers or what they saw on television and, generally, these were of a tragic nature. All these people felt that Ireland was engulfed in war at that time. For Bord Fáilte, as it was then, to try to offset this negative image of Ireland was virtually impossible, yet it succeeded in doing so.

Now, we have a two-pronged approach. I was speaking with a DUP representative during a debate on what cultural tourism meant. I made the point that we are particularly lucky to have a single body to promote the entire island of Ireland, namely, Tourism Ireland. It is doing a great job and we do not have a negative image going out. We must also remember that previously, publicity campaigns were threatened and undermined by a new tragedy. The global economic downturn is no more daunting than the challenges we faced in the past.

I agree that we must focus on ourselves rather than on what Governments should be doing. The infrastructure is there and it has been supported. No matter where one goes, we have good roads for people to travel. However, we still have things which are exclusive to ourselves. We still have national monuments, a great literary tradition, great Irish music, great sports and a great image worldwide. We never colonised any other country in the world and the friendship of the Irish is well known. However, it is up to the community and the individual to promote the country and we should start talking tourism up rather than down.

In recent months, several bodies have come before the Oireachtas committee which deals with tourism. These include Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and tour operators. All these groups have been positive. The next step is to get this positive attitude across within communities. On every occasion, I state that it is absolutely vital that we maintain and sustain the bed and breakfast network. It might seem to be irrelevant because there are so many hotels which provide good rates at present. However, the personal experience in a bed and breakfast stays with the visitor for a long time. There are possibilities in this sector. If we could tweak the law a little and allow bed and breakfast establishments to have alcoholic beverages available for customers, it could make all the difference to this sector of the industry.

Let us try to get organised at community level. Tourism boards at county level have disappeared statutorily. To some extent, the regional tourist boards have been marginalised. Apart from Dublin Tourism and Shannon Development, to a large degree the others do not have a structure. Even on a non-statutory basis let us try to have a forum within each community to sell itself. I like the little anecdote Senator Feargal Quinn told about a parish priest in Kerry stating that the way one keeps one's visitors is to look after their needs. Communities need a forum to highlight these matters and find ways and means of developing them.

I paid tribute to Kerry and the manner in which the people there are able to promote it.