John Kelly (Labour)

We must promote rural Ireland to attract tourists from Britain which will require us to focus on promoting our lakes, rivers and landscape and the céad míle fáilte.

I support the decision by Irish Rail to introduce a special fare promotion. This should be extended to Bus Éireann by offering bus travel vouchers to any tourist who arrives at a regional airport. If a tourist has a voucher to travel on a half empty bus, he or she will spend money discovering the magic of our rural areas.

I welcome the decision to waive visas from certain countries with a view to attracting visitors from the Chinese and Indian markets. As I noted last week, it was significant that NBC covered President Obama's visit to Moneygall for ten minutes. The future of our tourism produce lies in a focus on rural Ireland.

I feel passionately about the opportunities that could arise from making use of the social welfare budget for tourism purposes. If, for example, an employer was given 50% of the social welfare payment of every person he employed in the tourism sector, we could save €1.1 billion per annum and create 100,000 jobs in tourism. This issue should be addressed. While it may require us to pay a price, it would also deliver a significant reduction in costs.

Looking at the Sinn Féin amendment to the motion, as a west of Ireland man, I would have to agree that the acceleration of the western rail corridor is very important, as is road infrastructure to open up the west generally. In addition, I have been calling for a re-evaluation of the rates structure for the past two years. As far as I know, there have only been three pilot schemes so far, which were initiated in Dublin, and they all reflected a 35% reduction in rates in those particular county council areas.

I have one criticism to make of us, as a nation. Going back 30 or 40 years, areas of the country were alive with tourism but we started to price ourselves out of the market. Last week was significant in this respect due to some major events, as Senators who must stay in Dublin hotels three nights a week will know. If one did not reserve a room well in advance, the price may have risen from €59 per night to €290. This quick-buck mentality will not work, so we must address the situation. When it comes to tourism and turning the country around, we are in this for the long haul, so the quick-buck mentality should be taken out of the equation.