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

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to respond to the points different colleagues have made. I acknowledge the contributions made by everybody. I heard Senators Labhras Ó Murchú, Terry Brennan, Fidelma Healy Eames, John Kelly, Feargal Quinn, Mary Ann O'Brien, Catherine Noone, Marie Moloney, Kathryn Reilly, Jillian van Turnhout, Cáit Keane and Mark Daly at the end and listened to what they all had to say. It is very difficult in the short amount of time available to respond to all of the detailed points which have been made. I will therefore focus on three overall themes that were most commonly raised by Senators.

First, I focus on a point that was touched on by different Senators who referred to the importance of a particular county and the need to support it. Senator Mary Ann O'Brien made the case for different counties to be supported on the Fáilte Ireland website or in Tourism Ireland work. I take a very different view. When people talk about the Wild Atlantic Way, it is a regional proposition. Even when we talk about Dublin, we are not talking about particular parts of Dublin. When we talk about Ireland's ancient east, we are not talking about Waterford, Kilkenny or, for that matter, Louth. It will always be about a regional proposition. The real insight that has emerged from the work Tourism Ireland has done and which has underpinned the success of The Gathering and the Wild Atlantic Way is that while the benefit may be felt within counties and even within particular communities within counties, what is of greatest appeal to potential tourists is a proposition that straddles many different parts of our country. As such, we need to move away from how we have supported individual counties in the past to supporting propositions or concept from which lots of counties can win. I take the example of Kerry as the success of Killarney has been touched on. When we talk about the Wild Atlantic Way, we do not reference Kerry specifically within it or Cork, Sligo or the other counties that are part of it. What we do is to reference and support the Wild Atlantic Way.

We must move to a way of talking about tourism in Ireland that is below the Ireland level but ahead of the county level. In that spot and the way in which we pull things together is the future of where we should go. That leads to a point Senator Reilly put to me. I answer her question specifically as it was the main detailed question put to me as to how we can pull all of that together at county level. The way that can be done is through the local enterprise offices that individual local authorities are now establishing. Memoranda of understanding have now been drawn up between local enterprise offices and Fáilte Ireland. While that might sound a bit abstract, I am confident it is working because when I go to different local authorities in my work within the Department, I am struck by the fact that nearly every one has a director of services who has responsibility for tourism. Local authorities have strategies or plans they are launching for tourism. They are taking on far greater strategic importance and being given time than would have been the case five to ten years ago. That is the way we will access the necessary community support. The interest and financial support will be sourced from the local authorities in relation to where it is needed. Senator Noone made the point about destinations reinventing themselves. The way that is happening is by communities within destinations and local authorities working together. That is the area we need to support very actively in the years to come.

I touch on a common theme in many of the contributions, which is heritage. Senator Ó Murchú introduced the theme when he touched on the importance of antiquities and different Senators raised with me in different ways how we approach the issue. I support the role of heritage in relation to how we support the development of Irish tourism, but I make three different points. First, the approach to Ireland's ancient east will offer a framework in which we can support heritage development from a tourism point of view. Second, however, we must move away from thinking that if we are doing heritage in one part of the country, that is all we are doing there. There are lots of areas in which we will look to better support a heritage proposition and the way in which we will do it is through Fáilte Ireland seeking to work with the OPW or the Heritage Council to develop attractions and sites which are already there. For example, we can better support them through Ireland's ancient east concept. That is not to say other things going on within the same county will not get support such as festivals or outdoor and adventure tourism. All those things can exist alongside each other.We will seek to realise this later this year with a view to having something that will work in 2016 and 2017.

A number of Senators asked whether heritage should not be part of the tourism industry. While that decision is well above my pay grade, I take a contrary view on this matter. As eager as I am to support heritage ideas with a view to developing tourism, we must be careful to ensure that certain aspects of our heritage are not viewed through the lens of monetisation. If heritage were to become part of the tourism product, some of the things we are doing in this area would not meet the criteria I have set for Fáilte Ireland. For this reason, I believe that much of what is being done in the area of heritage should continue to be kept separate from the work of my Department. We are hoping to complement heritage activities through initiatives such as Ireland's Ancient East which encompasses many, if not all, of the different heritage sites that we are trying to better support.

Many Senators referred to issues in their respective counties. I will try to respond to them if I have another opportunity to come to the House. For now, I will finish where I started by stating that The Gathering, the Wild Atlantic Way and the success of different parts of Dublin lead me to believe that we should be working together in a space between the county level and below the national level. Subsidiarity is a concept I will borrow from another area of politics. The success being achieved in tourism by certain areas of the country is a glowing example of economic and policy subsidiarity.