Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Step 1, taking orders; step 2, acting on orders. I welcome everybody back to the Chamber. We had a great summer, and a great sporting summer. Last November I raised concerns about Hayes' Hotel in Thurles but I am pleased that, ten months on, Hayes' Hotel was purchased yesterday by a Tipperary man who intends to develop the hotel as an iconic building incorporating all the history of the GAA. During this summer we have seen what were probably the greatest GAA games in the history of the association. We also saw the opportunity given to people not living in this country to enjoy the GAA through Sky Television, etc. We marvelled at the comments of people across the water in particular about the meaning of hurling and how it is played.

We also witnessed during the summer what was probably one of the finest marketing achievements of this State, namely, the Wild Atlantic Way and the number of people it attracted to Ireland. I spent my summer holidays in Clare and in Galway and on one stretch of road, 90% of the cars coming towards me were hired cars being driven by visitors from America and various other parts of the world. The Wild Atlantic Way has been a success but I ask the Leader to request the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, to work on a new project - the GAA way. Across the country we have places such as Cusack's home in Clare, the Lowry Maher centre in Kilkenny, the Maurice Davin monument in Carrick-on-Suir, the museum in Croke Park and also the Rackard monument in Wexford, to name just a few.

There is a fantastic opportunity now for this country to get working on utilising the benefits of the world opening its eyes to what the GAA is about. I would ask the Leader to ask the Minister to come to the House to discuss the development of Hayes' Hotel. The GAA at local level are fully supportive and will co-operate on this. I have been in discussions already with the organisation since yesterday. We need the help of the Minister and Tourism Ireland.