Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Buttimer. I join Senator Hannigan in calling for a debate on the tourism industry which, I am say to say, has been suffering badly. However, I welcome the initiative taken by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Deputy Hanafin, in the British market which traditionally has been our best market. There are reasons for its decline, but, please God, they are surmountable. With all the volcanic ash still floating around, at least our British visitors can reach us easily by ferry. There are many things we could do to encourage our good British customers to come back to Ireland. However, we must also try to do something about the many insolvent hotels. We have too many hotels, many of which have been transferred — or at least, the impaired loans associated with them — to NAMA. It is obvious that some of them are insolvent and they are hindering and threatening the viability of our good hotels. They were developed as a result of the granting of capital allowances for seven years, but it should not be beyond the ingenuity of the Department of Finance to come up with a solution or a method to allow them to exit the market without the loss of the tax breaks.

I add my voice to others, particularly that of Senator Ross, in regard to Iarnród Éireann. It is astounding that the board and perhaps top level management are still in place, in spite of all that has happened. I agree we need to debate the matter.

When is it proposed to take Report Stage of the Property Services (Regulation) Bill 2009?