Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also congratulate the Minister on her appointment. The consideration and respect she has shown me in the House over recent years reflects her commitment to equality. Having someone with that belief sitting at Cabinet can only improve equality of opportunity and access for all our citizens. I wish her well.

I come from a part of the country, County Clare, that heavily relies on tourism. The last recession was very difficult and challenging but the industry that started kicking us back to economic recovery was tourism. The Gathering initiative in 2013, which was promoted by the Government under the then Minister, Deputy Varadkar, was seen by many as the starting point of the recovery of tourism here. That was followed by the masterstroke in international marketing that is the Wild Atlantic Way. It has the potential to compete with the Camino as being the world's greatest walk. That needs to be our ambition.

Although the coming recession will be much worse than anything we have experienced, I believe that tourism will, yet again, kick us into economic recovery. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on tourism for their livelihoods. In County Clare in particular, thousands rely on tourism and thousands are struggling now because of the lack of tourism. I encourage everyone here to consider visiting County Clare on their holidays this year. We have had the Tánaiste on his holidays for a weekend in Clare already, as well as many others, but we need a lot more. We need a lot of capital investment in walkways, greenways and public transport so people can get around our county and are able to visit all parts with regularity, in comfort and with choice. We need capital investment in our tourist attractions. The Cliffs of Moher visitor experience in County Clare is a gold-plated tourism facility. I hope the Minister will have an opportunity to visit it during her period in office. It needs further investment. There is a coastal walk that probably needs €20 million or €30 million to bring it up to the type of standard we need. We also have a lot of silver-plated attractions with regional importance, such as Seaworld in Lahinch and Waterworld in Kilkee.

We can make tourism an all-year round industry. That is why it is critical that Shannon Heritage keeps its facilities open throughout the year.Therefore, when people come to County Clare on holidays they will have a choice of activities and facilities to visit and enjoy.