Jimmy Harte (Labour)

Much of what has been already said is reflected in every county in Ireland. Donegal has the natural resources to attract tourists. While it has been promoted to a certain degree we must up our game in this regard.

I have followed the Irish soccer team throughout Europe and beyond down through the years. It has never been reported that an Irish soccer fan was arrested in any country following a match. Up to 10,000 Irish soccer fans travel to attend matches in different cities throughout the world, which presents us with an opportunity to market our country. Following the World Cup in Italy in 1990 many Italians came to Ireland. Many people also visited Ireland after Stephen Roche won the Tour de France. I am sure Senator Eamonn Coghlan has been responsible for bringing Americans to Ireland following his success as an athlete in the USA. We have many resources that could assist us in bringing in more tourists.

There is an Irish tourist office in every city in the world. There are also Irish bars throughout the world, including in South America, Australia, Europe, Asia and America. If one goes into an Irish bar one will see photographs of Kerry, Donegal, Dublin and so on but one will never see a tourist brochure, which would encourage people to visit Ireland. While most Irish bars are not owned by Irish people we could tap into marketing Ireland through this facility rather than opening a tourist office in every country.

Many of the big cities in England, including Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, have large Irish populations, most of whom have never visited Ireland. I have travelled through many UK airports and have never seen in any of them a stall promoting Irish tourism. We are missing out because of this. Approximately 40% of the population of Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool have Irish roots. These cities are only 30 minutes from Dublin and 45 minutes from Derry and Belfast. We tend to focus more on the US market or other parts of the world. The UK market is our biggest market and we should target it more aggressively.

Irish fans will probably travel to Macedonia this Saturday for the match. While not too many Macedonians may travel to Dublin or Ireland following that match, some 5,000 to 10,000 fans may travel to Andorra in October to see the Ireland-Andorra game and this may present us with an opportunity to develop that end of the tourism market.