Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I raised this last year and I was pilloried in the media, members of whom suggested that I was proposing that the media should not hold politicians to account on how much it would cost the State to send Government representatives abroad. As someone who travelled extensively in the past, and many on both sides of the House have also travelled, representing their communities, counties or their country throughout various St. Patrick's Day celebrations down through the decades, it would be a national sabotage to suggest that we should not continue with this particular tradition.

This is especially the case given a meeting of the joint committee on tourism yesterday which I attended and at which I, along with colleagues from all sides of the House, listened to the Secretary General, Mr. Con Haugh, who is retiring next month and to whom I express my sincere appreciation for an outstanding contribution to public service over three decades, describe a tourism renaissance for the coming year. It is predicted, and it is to be hoped it will happen, that we will increase our tourist numbers because it is vital to the economy at all levels. I hope that there will be an agreement that those who represent this country in March are doing so in the national interest.