James Carroll (Fianna Fail)

-----that could be an innovative approach. Mr. Dan Flinter is heading up the golf strategy. There are Members with many different ideas and we might get an opportunity to deal directly with him to link up our various ideas and look at what Portugal is doing in this specific target market.

In my own area, the Louth Economic Forum has developed a nine-point plan for economic regeneration in Louth, a key plank of which is tourism. Mr. Ray Carroll, who was general manager of the K Club during the 2006 Ryder Cup, chairs this panel. I encourage the Minister, if she gets an opportunity, to meet him, or the group as she will visit County Louth soon, or perhaps I could get them to visit Leinster House. It would be a great opportunity to meet this group to see what it is doing for a county in the north east and how this could be used elsewhere, but obviously not to the detriment of County Louth. The group is bringing together experts in the area to develop a number of different strategies.

I was heartened to see within the past two weeks the official opening of the new tourist office at the Tholsel in Drogheda, at the junction of West Street and Shop Street, which has serious potential to draw people in to the heartland of the town. Within 400 m of the new tourist office, there is St. Peter's Church which contains the head of St. Oliver Plunkett, St. Laurence's Gate, and the mace, which in many respects people felt was a symbol of British occupation in Ireland, which lay hidden for many years but which has recently been brought out to the public. This is all within 60 seconds' walk of the new tourist office in Drogheda.

There are developments in local communities and the people realise that the Minister cannot come along and, with the sweep of her pen, solve the problem to bring an extra million visitors to the country. It is up to various communities, local forums and local authorities to come up with the ideas and take their own small measures. Obviously, the Minister needs to develop the policy on a macroeconomic level, which brings me on to my next point.

A number of speakers raised the issue of the travel tax. Senator Mooney articulated well the plan of Mr. Michael O'Leary who said that if the Government cut the travel tax, he would get millions of people to come to the country. It is not as simple as that, as the Minister stated previously, because Mr. O'Leary has a range of issues behind that. If the Minister cuts the travel tax, he also wants her to look at other airport taxes and then at Terminal 2. There are a number of problems he wants solved. Perhaps looking at getting rid of the travel tax could be an option, whether for a six-month or 12-month window, to see whether there is a direct correlation with tourist numbers.

Personally, I do not know whether it makes that much of a difference. For any of us who have been abroad over the past two or three years, the €10 travel tax is not the key factor. The key factor is the overall price of flights, accommodation and travel between flights to one's final destination. It is when one gets the whole package that one sees the final figure and decides whether to choose that destination. It is a little ironic to hear Mr. O'Leary say this because often he uses airports that are not exactly in the heartland of the cities he brings us to. It is difficult to analyse directly and see what difference the €10 travel tax makes because there are so many variables, such as whether the economy is buoyant or depressed, but I still think the Minister should look at removing it for a six or 12-month period and at getting rid of it.

The next major issue I wonder about is the strategy for the London Olympics in 2012. In my final year in UCD as president of the students' union, we passed a levy to allow the building of a new 50 m swimming pool on campus in Belfield. At that time, the London 2012 Olympics had just been announced and we said that it could provide a great opportunity for us to draw in the serious athletes from the four corners of the world who, realistically, would not train at home and come straight into London, and who would look for a base in Ireland. There were a range of other factors. There will be competitors from the continents of Australia, Asia, Africa and America who will want a running track in conditions similar to those that occur in London, and that is where Ireland really could make the most of it. One might not necessarily get a long-term gain out of that but if people want to use it as a base coming up to 2012, there could be benefits subsequently in utilising those services. We should move towards that.

From her own perspective, the Minister has talked about different inexpensive projects that we should start looking at, such as walkways and other low-cost tourist initiatives. Something we should look at for all our towns and villages are earphone tours where, for example, a person would pick up headphones at a local shop and there would be eight, ten or 12 points around the town to inform him or her about the history of those iconic locations. For the walled towns around the country, this would be a fantastic small initiative and would cost relatively little.

The model used for the dublinbikes scheme involves a private operator, JCDecaux, paying substantial capital costs in return for a commercial gain. This novel approach could be used in other ways. For example, if branded, low-cost earphones were used for tours, it would be much simpler for a project to become established.

On the issue of walks, we need to promote our beautiful scenic coastline. Last summer, during a week long visit to the Aran Islands and west coast I saw thousands of people cycling. This should be replicated elsewhere, for example, in the north east. In Clogherhead, which the Minister kindly visited in the summer to launch the prawn festival, we have some of the most magnificent views in the country and many small country roads. As Senator Cannon noted, the National Roads Authority has launched an initiative for cycle tours. We need to focus on small enterprises in areas such as this which could create one, two or five jobs.

I am heartened by the Minister's initiative and the goodwill she has shown towards many projects. I look forward to her response to my questions.