John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While we need to take account of Brexit and be aware of it, we do not need to talk ourselves into a crisis about it. Senator Ó Donnghaile said that it has not yet affected the figures. People are making decisions now about where they will go in 2017, and we need to be on the ball in that regard.

The great thing about tourism is that every region has benefited from it in terms of jobs and spending in the economy. Spending by tourists in regional Ireland is even more beneficial because the regions lack spending in other areas. That must be concentrated on as well. Reference was made as well to the fact that funding to support tourism suffered in the financial crisis like everything else. It is good that we are discussing the lifting of a cap rather than the imposition of a cut, but it is important to note that tourism has been the success story of the recession and the financial crisis in Ireland. It shows what happens when all bodies can get together, whether the agencies, the industry itself, the Irish Hotels Federation, the Restaurants Association of Ireland and so on, along with the Government. While funding was cut, incentives and supports were put in place by way of the 9% VAT rate, the elimination of the travel tax and so on.

It was pointed out to us yesterday that there are challenges ahead, and everyone sees them. Sterling has dropped by 20% in the last number of months, and we saw a wobble on the markets with the election in the United States. It is important that such matters be met and whatever supports necessary can be put in place. Maybe the one small weakness concerns Dublin, the capital city. If we go abroad, we think of capital cities, and that is fine, but there are some wonderful resources in tourism. The biggest resources in tourism are in the regions, whether scenery, activities, holidays or whatever. The Minister of State wears his sporting cap here as well. Activity holidays and so on are important. There is a lack of hotel beds. While the solution to that in Dublin is the building and opening of new hotels, it is important that there be another solution, that is, that we get people directly into the regions. I know Shannon Airport and the surrounding area is close to the Minister of State's heart. Knock Airport is close to mine. There are also airports in Cork and Belfast. Tourism marketing has been wonderful in the past five years. I refer to the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East. However, we should educate tourists that there is brilliant value for money in the rural and regional areas, despite hotel rooms in Dublin sometimes being massively overpriced in many respects, with the Rod Stewart concert and sporting events and so on.If there is one positive outcome from the challenges, it is that there are considerable opportunities arising from them. For the investment that has been made in tourism, there are multiples of it that come back into the economy. I very much welcome this Bill.