Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ó Donnghaile for his compliments on the work Tourism Ireland does. Since becoming Minister of State almost year ago, I have found Tourism Ireland to be one of the most impressive agencies, with Niall Gibbons, Siobhan McManamy and their team doing fantastic work. They are fantastic beacons for the island of Ireland. One of the many positive things to come out of the Good Friday Agreement was the creation of Tourism Ireland. When one travels abroad with them one sees how many contacts they have all over the world and the power they have in selling the island of Ireland. Maria Melia is here from the Department too. She works closely with Tourism Ireland and I am very blessed to have fantastic people in my Department, working both on the international side of things and on the domestic side, the latter with Paul Kelly and his team in Fáilte Ireland. They have a good balance and there is good synergy between both the agencies, which also work with the tourism bodies in Northern Ireland which are doing their best to grow the industry and have seen excellent results in recent years.

On Translink, I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, about the work he has done on public transport in the Department. Anything that assists cross-Border tourism is really important. I was asked about workers and tips and I was very dependent on tips myself for many years, having spent seven years in hotels and thee years behind bars. I ran a bar for three years and was quite good at getting tips.