Seanad debates

Thursday, 31 January 2013

The Gathering Ireland 2013: Statements

 

1:20 pm

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not. I do not think I knew him at that stage. It was several years ago. It is a lovely town with a lovely built heritage and great activities. I certainly intend to make a visit in the coming year or so.

Senator van Turnhout raised a very important question on the use of the brand and it has crossed my mind. I will follow up on it. I disagree with her in that I do not have any problem with companies being involved in The Gathering. They are very welcome and I have no problem with companies making profits as it is what they are supposed to do, but I would not like to see them abusing the brand. At present if one goes to the website and one wants to download or use the promotional material one must register and complete a form and go through a process detailing who one is and the nature of the event. People are free to use The Gathering logo for events, tourism promotion and posters but they are not allowed to use it for commercial gain unless they have permission from The Gathering team to do so. We probably need to keep an eye on this.

To respond to Senator O'Keeffe, I am delighted to hear the fleadh will go to Sligo and I compliment her on the work she has done, particularly with regard to WB Yeats. The question on what I see as the legacy in 2014 and beyond is a good one. I hope events such as that on New Year's Eve will grow into big annual events. People will build connections. We need to get across the idea that tourism must be more bottom up. People often ask me why Fáilte Ireland does not send more tourists to their town, as if a Government agency can collect people from around the world and bring them to a town. It must be more bottom up. It is often suggested that we establish more agencies and have regional and local tourist organisations. We do not need more chairs, vice chairs and secretaries; we need people organising events in their areas to encourage tourists to come or building up attractions. This is what works and The Gathering will have a good legacy in this regard. The model of community engagement will continue. We will retain and reuse the databases, websites and all other data. I hope the favourable coverage will encourage people to visit again and apply the boomerang principle. If people have a good time in Ireland, I hope they will return.

The Gathering presents an opportunity to rebuild connections with the diaspora. It can help us start a debate on voting rights, which was mentioned by a Senator. I very much support allowing any Irish citizen vote for the President because the President should be the President of the Irish nation and not only the Irish State. I have a slightly different view on Parliament because parliaments make laws and impose taxes and those voting for a parliament should be those who must obey these laws and pay these taxes and therefore should be resident.

Perhaps we could do something for people who have left for only two or three years. It is common that people leave for a few years for career reasons and it would be nice if they could continue to vote.

As always Senator Barrett asked pertinent questions and made good points. I agree with his suggestion that the tourism industry should contribute to their sector. The tourism industry is one of the few industries that does not pay for its marketing. The industry carries out marketing but relies a lot on Government for marketing too. If one is in the retail or another sector there would be no question of asking the Government to spend ¤100 million on marketing because those sectors contribute and do their own marketing. I shall give some examples. The hoteliers in Westport put money into a fund to promote the town and the measure works well. Killarney has done something similar for a long time. It is not done in Dublin and Cork but it probably should be.

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