James Heffernan (Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for coming before the House, and I wish her the best of luck in her important role.

Last Thursday, my club Blackrock played a championship hurling match against Dromin Athlacca. We lost that one unfortunately, but as I looked at the match programme, I started to wonder how many of these lads had full-time jobs or prospects of employment that will keep them in their home towns and parishes. Of the 15 that started on the team, over half were not working. Some were students and the others were drawing the dole. This situation is replicated in every town and village across the country. For example, my brother is in London earning a living. He returned from Australia to help me out during the general election, and he was by my side as we travelled around the country campaigning for the Seanad. That kept him busy for a while, but the reality was not long settling in. He is now across the Irish Sea and is hurling with the Brothers Pearse Club in Neasden, Kilburn, north London. There has never been so much competition for places on his team, and he tells me that the standard has improved greatly in London. Most of the lads on that particular team are Limerick men, and all of them are working there.

This is the crisis we are facing. We need to find jobs for our young people, or else we will lose them. We may not lose them forever, but we will certainly do so for a while. The Passport Office down the road from this House is struggling to deal with the increase in applications. Most of those applications are from young women and men like myself, and this is the legacy of the previous Government and is the challenge for the current Government.

One sector in which Ireland should be a global leader is tourism. We have a fantastic product, but it has been neglected for a number of years. According to a recent Fáilte Ireland conference, UK tourists no longer see Ireland as a unique destination, because when they come here they see the same high street shops that they see at home. I remember travelling in Peru a few years ago, a country in the developing world but whose economy is largely based on its tourist product. I travelled to Machu Picchu and talked about it to a friend from County Down, who seemed to be rather underwhelmed by the whole experience. He said that it was just a ruin, and that he could look out his back door at home and see ruins. I laughed at that but it made me think how underdeveloped our tourism industry is. Rural Ireland is a fantastic tourist product. The recent visits by President Obama and the Queen of England have helped to highlight this.

What is the EU doing for tourism in Ireland? What can the EU do for tourism here? We have got ambassadors in every country across the EU. What exactly are they doing to promote Ireland? What are our MEPs doing to promote Ireland as a tourist destination?