Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement Matter and welcome him to the House. The issue I am raising is very important for rural revival and the survival of rural towns and villages, particularly in my constituency of Galway East. I request that the Minister of State consider pursuing a tourism strategy that would allow for the development of additional tourist trails off the Wild Atlantic Way in order to optimise the tourism potential of towns and villages in close proximity to the successful driving route. It is time to develop tourist routes off the Wild Atlantic Way in order to bring destinations of special amenity, cultural and tourism interest into the frame and showcase all that we have in our rural communities.

As the Minister of State is well aware, visitor numbers have been very strong year-on-year, with an increase of 12.5% in overseas visits to Ireland in the first nine months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. We must examine the massive success of the Wild Atlantic Way, which is something of which we should all be very proud in the west of Ireland. However, we should develop it further and include towns and villages of special interest within close proximity of the driving trail, adding them as appendices to the map of the route.

It is important to give tourists choice when they are exploring new pastures. Routes could be designated as special historic, geographic, literary or cultural offshoots of the Wild Atlantic Way, thereby offering something to the more discerning traveller along the way. In particular, for places such as Gort in south Galway, which has a world-famous Yeats connection, with Thoor Ballylee and the link to Lady Augusta Gregory, it would be foolhardy, to say the least, not to optimise these connections in this way. It has to be said that the local community in Gort has done Trojan work in putting their town on the edge of the Burren on the map. I was delighted to see recently that the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, approved funding which will help bring the town to another level. The people of Gort, who are working very hard, need further rewards to spurn them on to greater things.