Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators for their contributions. I will respond to the main point each Senator has made to me to conclude this debate.

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for his contribution. I am always reluctant to describe any part of our economy as being a good news story because we do so at the cost of forgetting - not that Senator O'Sullivan did - how difficult things were for quite a while and not acknowledging choices that were made to get us to where we are now. It is extremely important that we are conscious of that when we talk about tourism because a challenge we will face is looking at measures we can put in place in our economy to ensure that the kind of growth we see happening now continues at a more sustainable pace in the future. That is something my strategy, which we will launch later in the year, will seek to address.

I take a different view on the point made about front-of-house operations - who is behind the bars and working in cafes. A great strength of our country is the variety of communities we have. While I understand Senator O’Sullivan’s point of view, what is more important is the training that is made available to the person and the culture within the cafe or pub that the tourist is visiting. That is the real test of the welcome we can offer. Everyone living here is capable of doing that and we have to support them with training to make sure that happens.

Senator Brennan spoke about the role of local communities in delivering our tourism offering, a point with which I agree. I have been impressed by the degree to which local communities have built upon what was delivered through the Wild Atlantic Way by the Government and local authorities. It is a significant part of the magic of what that offering is achieving.

Senators O’Sullivan and Barrett emphasised the risk of killing the goose that laid the golden egg with pricing and competitiveness of hotels and other tourism facilities. My message is simple. My support for retaining the 9% VAT rate is absolutely conditional on ensuring that we continue to offer good value to tourists. We will not accept a return to the kind of behaviour and pricing that crippled our ability to give good value to people who came to our shores in the past.