Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to discuss this issue with us. I commend the Government's initiatives so far in relation to tourism. It is perhaps fair to say it is at local level that we will succeed. It is, after all, the product people come here for. When people from China or India arrive here, they want to enjoy themselves. In that regard, I commend the launch tomorrow in Sligo of an initiative on behalf of all those in the area involved in tourism. This is the first time they have come together in a really bold initiative to market Sligo. While this initiative is funded by Fáilte Ireland, it involves the Leader company, the Western Development Commission, Sligo Marketing Forum, local businesses, Sligo Chamber of Commerce and the county development board, all of which see the potential of joined up thinking. If there is no joined up thinking and people do not come together and say, "We want to sell where we live and be proud of what we have here," the tourism industry will not be successful. I accept Senator Sean Barrett's point that there is cynicism in marketing. However, if one is marketing, it is important that one has something to market. This kind of approach will bring about a win-win.

The Minister asked about saving money and value for money. I asked Fáilte Ireland how it would assess the programme it was launching on 6 June and which will be talked about tomorrow in Sligo. It stated it would invite the tourism department of Sligo IT to analyse the figures and see precisely where the €120,000 was spent and the impact it had had. Involving Sligo IT, as another stakeholder in tourism, is to be commended. The students of the institute will be ambassadors for Sligo and tourism across the country. I offer this as a suggestion to the Minister. There must be other places where this is possible.

I was delighted to hear the Minister mention the need for infrastructural improvement and to prioritise roads that lead to great tourism places. No one can deny that the north west, Sligo in particular, is a great tourism destination. Of course, we fall short with the N4. Those of us who travel it regularly know how bad it is. I know there is a proposal with the National Roads Authority to improve it. I urge the Minister to look seriously at the proposal. Sligo has gateway status, but the N4 is a difficult and dangerous road to travel. I do not want to be entirely parochial. However, Sligo Airport looks set to lose its funding and be placed at a potential disadvantage. If that is the case, we must not be further disadvantaged by the lack of decent infrastructure.

I commend the initiative being taken in Sligo and the joined up thinking it involves. I commend it to the Minister. If we are to succeed in tourism, we must start locally. We must not rely on Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland or anybody else. We must start at home on the ground.