Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Níl mé ag caint ach nóiméad nó trí. I have some involvement in tourism and had a meeting this morning with Fáilte Ireland. I ask the Leader of the House to ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to be proactive on the following. The single biggest area deprived of tourism in Ireland is the midlands.Fáilte Ireland has very good plans for the midlands. Recently, the Minister announced that €33 million would be spent on tourism development in the midlands. The problem is that it does not have any staff there. A tourism centre is required in Mullingar that would take just about six people. Tourism is hugely important in the rest of Ireland but the midlands are left stranded. It is by far the weakest area. All that is required is an investment in the region of €400,000 for six people to go and develop tourism in the midlands region. It certainly has many tourism attractions, primarily east of the Shannon, quite frankly, but the focus is on the Shannon. I have been asked and petitioned to raise this in the Seanad and request the same.