Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the motion and the amendment and I welcome the Minister of State to the House for the debate. Holding jobs in the appalling circumstances we are in is vital. We need a suite of measures such as this amendment recommends and PRSI breaks to enable employers to keep employees and increase their numbers. The amendment is timely.

Several tourism interests have been in contact with me and my dear friend and colleague, Senator Norris. Coming from Killarney I am vitally concerned about the integration of food and tourism. These are highly important areas for us. The connection between food and tourism is crucial to employment. I do not see any sense in fragmenting the faculty of tourism at the Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, as proposed. It is important for retaining jobs and, one hopes, creating new ones that we are seen to do everything possible to assist and encourage the industry. Hoteliers in my part of the world are very concerned and believe this proposal will impact negatively on the area and sector.

I support Senator Norris' proposal that the Ministers for Arts, Sport and Tourism and Education and Science request the governing authority of DIT at its meeting on 15 July to revisit and reconsider the proposed fragmentation of the faculty of tourism and food. This is a proposal to split up the three schools that constitute the faculty. The school of hospitality management and tourism will be moved to the business faculty while the schools of culinary arts, food technology, food science and environmental health will be moved to the science faculty. In doing this the word "tourism" will be removed from the title of the DIT faculty. That would be a retrograde step. This demotes the position of tourism at institute level when global projections state that tourism is one of the sectors with greatest potential for recovery in recessionary times.

Senator Norris cited the World Travel and Tourism Council facts about Ireland from a report dated March 2009. I support what he said in that regard. We believe that the restructuring of DIT is being undertaken in a rushed and poorly considered fashion. The main objective of the project appears to be the reduction of faculties from six to four by merging engineering and built environment and by fragmenting and eliminating the faculty of tourism and food. I wish to take the strongest stand I can on this project and I hope the Minister of State will be able to intercede with his colleagues on it. All we are asking is that the institute would consider the views of experts and organisations in the broad tourism and food sectors and to do so in light of the Government's drive to reinforce the tourism and food sectors. We believe that the recent decision of the governing authority to ratify the restructuring is contrary to any tourism and hospitality industry view and ignores economic, employment and development facilities policies for Ireland.

Senator Norris went into greater detail on some aspects and I will not repeat what he stated. However, it is acknowledged that the tourism industry is well positioned to be at the vanguard of recovery once there is an upturn in the global economy. Tourism is one of our few indigenous industries and with its quick recovery potential we have no doubt that the currently aligned faculty is well placed to benefit from a future recovery and even to assist the country to plan and prepare for such a recovery. However, it is felt that the restructuring proposal will seriously hamper the development of a holistic tourism and food industry and in the strongest way possible I put forward those points for consideration. The Ministers involved can have the desirable effect if they put forward this view, which should be put forward, in the national interest to protect our tourism and food sectors. This proposal is in conflict with Government policy and it should be reversed to be in line with what is the proper national approach.

Hoteliers involved in tourism in Killarney and throughout the country feel very strongly about the great training in Cathal Brugha Street and believe that the proposal to fragment it is ludicrous and needs to be reversed. I urge the Minister of State to use his good influence in this regard. We are concerned about job protection and job creation.