Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to this House to initiate a debate on our seaside resorts. We are very fortunate in this country to have some of the finest, healthiest, cleanest and most natural beaches in the world. We have them right around the country, from Ballybunion to Salthill, from Bundoran to Skerries and right down to the Leader's native Cork. A debate on this matter is long overdue. For a long time Irish people regarded the local beach as a holiday venue. We are now in the era of cheap flights, however, and there is nothing we can do about our weather so people are now inclined to head for the Costa del Sol than somewhere like Ballybunion, for example.

It is time for us to initiate an action plan to enhance and promote Irish beach holidays. We could invest a lot more in the infrastructure of our beaches, along with a variety of activities such as swimming, walking, fishing, thalassotherapy, seaweed baths and so on. Some of this is happening already but it could be more co-ordinated. The days when day-trippers could be satisfied with periwinkles and seagrass are long gone. We have to do better than that now and I ask the Minister to examine this. It is a huge area and there could be substantial investment in it. We have many safe and well-known blue flag beaches in this country. Unfortunately we have a very short season, with many people trying to make enough profit in two and a half months to last them for the rest of the year. We frequently talk about giving aid to sectors like agriculture when they are in trouble, so why have I never heard much here about the people trying to eke out a living in our beach towns over the short summer season? Perhaps the Leader might organise something on that. It would be useful.