Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to have the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport come to the House at an early date. There has been a very successful promotion of the Wild Atlantic Way but unfortunately this is skewing business away from other areas. I refer in particular to the south east, which will be familiar to the Leader. We are also part of the Atlantic coast but unfortunately we do not appear to be part of the Wild Atlantic Way. Much public moneys have been invested in tourism projects around the south east, not least in my own county of Wexford. There appears to be anecdotal evidence that because the promotion is skewing in one direction it is affecting tourism in the south east. I ask for a debate on this matter because both my county of Wexford and the Leader's county of Waterford have many very good attractions. I refer to my own electoral area of New Ross. Anyone spending a fortnight there can visit a different beach every day if the weather is right. The south east in general has better weather.

I concur with Senator Quinn in paying tribute to the former Tory and Conservative Minister, Ann Widdecombe who has been a champion of the pro-life movement and someone who has opposed the abortion culture in Britain over a long period of time. This culture has led to a situation where despite the good intentions, perhaps, on the part of some politicians to alleviate some of these hard cases, this culture has resulted where almost one in five babies are killed before they are born. This is an appalling vista but apparently one which the industry promotes. Unfortunately they have been unable to place a check on it. It shows the value of what we have decided here. In that regard I ask the Leader if we could have a debate on the media in general and our national broadcaster in particular. I am sure many people would have been appalled to have heard the bias which comes across, both in the written media and from our national broadcaster in particular. Anyone who listened to "Morning Ireland" this week and heard the-----