Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work done by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and by Tourism Ireland on the new strategy to encourage more visitors to Ireland from Australia. That country offers significant potential for growth in Irish tourism. The new three-year strategy has set out challenging and ambitious targets which would see the number of Australian visitors grow by 20%, which represents almost 220,000 visitors from down under by the end of 2017. Under Tourism Ireland's new strategy, Ireland will be positioned to complement rather than compete with the most popular European destinations which are the main draw for Australians. The Minister and Tourism Ireland must be complimented on the initiative.