Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Having been a former five-a-side player in the past, I am sure he has enjoyed the sport side of it.

I want to focus on a couple of points. To start with employment, the worry for me is that while we have 235,000 employed in the tourism sector and we are constantly looking for growth there, it is a question of how we will recruit going forward. It is not about the specialist parts.It is about the staff who work behind the bars and counters in all our tourist venues. I am finding that we are heading back to where we were in the Celtic tiger era, when there were more and more non-Irish working in the facilities. That is a worrying concern for me because as has been said a number of times many tourists come here for the Irish people and the Irish welcome.

A number of months ago, the apprenticeship for commis chefs was finally agreed upon. One of the block release centres for that is in the Minister of State’s own constituency in Tralee. There are another three areas that were also announced five years ago, pastry chefs, sous chefs and other ones, but they have not been advanced. The Minister of State might be able to talk to his colleagues in the areas of education and employment about moving those apprenticeships on a little bit quicker. It is where we need to go in the future.

Sport tourism has not really been mentioned and is a potential growth area. My own constituency of Kildare is the focal point of the equine industry. If we look at Punchestown, there was 125,000 people there for the festival this year of whom 25% were from overseas, mostly from the UK. That is an area we have not really looked at. Can we bring in people for rugby or soccer camps, the novelty event of hurling camps or other types of event? Irish golf has marketed itself quite well as a good destination for overseas tourists. It could be a growth area.

The Wild Atlantic Way is one of the best things ever done along with the reduction in the VAT rate to encourage people to come and use hospitality. What I love is to link locally between restauranteurs, farmers and local suppliers. The more we can encourage that, the better. It brings a whole community effort together. It is not all about this fancy food which sometimes drives me insane. Most people like a good steak and a few spuds and that type of quality food is what we are great at producing.

I am going to be a bit parochial. There are two man-made waterways going through County Kildare, the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal. They are excellent facilities. I have been talking about this for five or six years. They should be upgraded. They are linking Dublin with the Shannon in the Longford area and south of Athlone. The Minister of State mentioned capital investment. They are two facilities that have plans. There are Part VIII applications coming out in respect of the Grand Canal shortly. The Minister of State could be instrumental in putting some capital investment into those projects which would be a great resource. We have seen investment in the greenways in Waterford and Achill but the midlands could do with something like that too, to generate employment in areas that are finding it difficult.

The second most visited tourist spot with free entry is Castletown House. About ten years ago it was a wreck and huge investment was put into it by the OPW. The number of tourists coming into it now is fantastic. There are hidden gems in the country that we still have not identified. We need to invest more in the capital side of things but we are certainly on the right road. We have had seven years of growth in the tourism industry. It is amazing. Fine Gael has been in power for seven years.