Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not interrupt Senator Gavan.

We have to look at the rural towns and villages. Many are dependent on our tourism industry. I know that the Minister has been responsible for promoting the Wild Atlantic Way and the Ancient East, and a previous Minister promoted The Gathering, which was really successful and brought many of our diaspora back to Ireland for many family gatherings. It was a very successful initiative. I know the Minister is sick of hearing me talk about the Wild Atlantic Way. He spoke in his speech about the fact that it goes from Donegal to Cork. It still does not include the city of Limerick, which is the main city in the mid-west region. The Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, announced the Shannon Estuary drive, but there is a case to be made. Limerick has much that makes it attractive in its heritage and tourist attractions. The Minister's Department has invested a great deal in developing things like King John's Castle and putting in high quality visitor attractions, yet we are not encouraging tourists to come to the city. I welcome that tourism numbers and visitor numbers are up. There was a time when one could land in Shannon Airport and be told to go to Dublin. At least that has stopped. I welcome that all those changes have been made.Senator Buttimer referred to the M20, which is a huge problem with regard to connectivity.

I have discussed with the Minister in a Commencement debate the issue of spreading tourism. A total of 82% of hotel beds in Dublin were occupied in 2015. I am not sure what the figure is for 2016, but I believe it is a little higher. Many flights arrive at Dublin Airport, which I know is beyond its capacity. The Government needs to consider more initiatives to spread tourism. We must use the hotel beds in the rest of the country. We must bring people to rural towns and villages and other cities. Recently I met somebody in the Westbury Hotel and two American visitors were sitting at a nearby table. They told me the package they had bought meant they were staying in Dublin and travelling to the Cliffs of Moher for a day and going to the Ring of Kerry for another day, but they were travelling up and down from Dublin. This does not make sense. Some of these packages base tourists in one place. They should spend two or three days in Dublin and then move west or north. There must be more incentives to encourage tour groups to spread their business.

I compliment the agencies because Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland are doing a lot to attract tourists. Yesterday, the Wild Atlantic Way won an international award in China, having been voted for by more than 10 million Chinese people. This is down to the work not only of the Department but also Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland.

It is expected the Six Nations matches in Dublin against England and France will be worth more than €40 million and this is nothing to be sneezed at. My colleagues on the left speak about the 9% VAT rate not being retained, but with all these tourists coming to the country we need to have the jobs to be able to look after people throughout the hospitality sector, be it in pubs, clubs and many restaurants. The 9% VAT rate helps the retention of jobs. I am glad the Minister has acknowledged he needs to ensure it is being passed onto the consumer. In some cases, people are not passing it on, but many are.

Last week at a public meeting on Brexit I spoke a little about tourism. The number of people coming to Ireland from the UK has dropped. I am very glad the Minister will address this issue. It is something we need to keep an eye on because it is a concern for the country.