Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I compliment all the Senators for the excellent debate. I will make a commitment to return to the Seanad. Since I came to office, one of the best debates I have had was the debate on sport in the Seanad. What I really like is when people ask questions and when I can reply after two or three of them. I will not be able to answer all questions posed today but the heart of every Senator is in the right place, just like the Dáil. Tourism is so important to every corner of this country. It creates employment in corners of the country where there will not be multinationals or investment other than tourism.

If the scenery and beauty in this country could be bought and sold, it would not be in Ireland. It would be in China or America because they have the money. We must work on the basis that we have something we want to sell to the rest of the world in order to bring people into this country. Since I came into this job I have had the energy and will work with the agencies and my Department.

Senator Barrett is quite correct that we cannot do things as we did before. We must be more motivated. We do not have the funding we had for many years and we must make sure that the funding is targeted and spent in the right places. We must all work harder, work differently and work smarter.

We have four State agencies, Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, Dublin Tourism and Shannon Development. There are too many agencies, which everyone knows. We are now reviewing the matter to see how we can streamline some of these agencies. We must do that.

The Acting Chairman, Senator O'Sullivan, raised questions about access and marketing. I am glad to see that the public service obligation has been renewed for Kerry Airport. Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland are working to keep the Cork-Swansea ferry line open. The company is in difficulty and it is an important route of access into the country. We are working with the company to keep it alive.

Several speakers referred to the committee I chair and from which Mr. Pat Hickey has resigned. I do not want to get into it and I will not make a big statement today. I am only in the job eight months and since I came into office, we have had two meetings. We held nine meetings in total and have one fixed for next month, although not because of the incident. I thought we were all putting on the green jersey. This is not a time to be bickering about whether we put money into hospitality in Britain. Many Senators have been in the Irish Embassy, which is a hospitality house because we do not have the resources and the money. If I had €300,000 and if the Minister for Finance had it he would be looking at special needs and hospitals. We have the Irish Embassy and a good ambassador in London and Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland will work together to be our hospitality house. I wish Mr. Pat Hickey well and I thank him for his contribution.

The previous Government set up a committee and we have done well out of it. Irish business people who went to Britain for the Olympic Games have agreed projects worth €500 million. Regarding the tourism aspect, we have some funding established and we are looking for the private sector to help us to get further funding. When the Olympic Games are under way, we will try to have a cultural event in this country for people who would normally go to London because London will be crowded and hotels will be very expensive. We have what they are looking for and we will target that market. We will have many festivals in Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork and Galway and we will entice people to come to the country. That committee is working very hard and there has been serious economic benefit to the country.

Senator Terry Brennan mentioned the cost of holidays, food and the cost of coming into the country. That was the perception. We must ensure our cost base is good and that our food and hotels are reasonably priced. Recent French publications have stated that Irish food is of a very good quality and that the price structure has reduced. That the French are publicising those issues in their books and magazines is good for Ireland.