Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Okay, with Limerick. The Minister of State's heart is, of course, in Limerick. We will come back to that. I know the Minister of State spoke about the local authorities in his speech in terms of their campaign and the conference Collaborate Locally to Compete Globally, but we must get the city and county councils to become part of that strategy, to promote, market and invest, in this case, in Cork. In the case of Cork, we need a comprehensive marketing and tourism strategy, which we have, but we also need investment by the local authorities to help sell Cork in terms of promoting the Cork transatlantic route.

My final comment is that the Minister of State has been successful with Government in retaining the 9% VAT rate. We speak about bed shortages and different issues in hotels. Senator Ó Clochartaigh makes reference to pay and conditions. The cost of accommodation has gone berserk in places. There needs to be a reining-in of some hotels that are over-pricing and, in time, will price themselves out of the market.