Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome today's announcement of €564,000 for 187 local festivals throughout the country. A significant portion of the investment is going to products along the Wild Atlantic Way and festivals along our west coast, including the Clifton arts festival, the Galway food festival, the Connemara festival as well as other festivals such as cruinniú na mbád. This is critical for the successful development of our tourism industry. Festivals are the backbone of our economy and this will greatly help to encourage greater numbers of tourists coming from abroad. Last year we saw the success of the Wild Atlantic Way and an increase of 10% in tourism numbers. This 2,500 km trail is proving to be beneficial for the rural communities of Ireland and I welcome today's announcement.