Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister sincerely. I worked closely with her over the past four years on the education committee and in the women's caucus. She is a politician of deep conviction and a woman who is passionate about her county. I have no doubt that those will be matched by ambition and vision for the Department she now leads.

I understand that the Minister might be visiting Kildare in a professional capacity in late August to open the new centre at the Irish National Stud. While she is there, I invite her to take a little tour of the county I know and love so well. I would bring her to the Curragh to see Donnelly's Hollow and to make my first request of her, which would be that we would make the Curragh a national heritage park. This is warranted and important. On the issue of transport, there is a stop at the Curragh for the train service. That could be utilised for both tourism and those who come to racing. Kildare is particularly well known for racing events and has many fabulous places we could bring tourists to, which I will highlight. It may surprise some to learn that 600 enterprises in Kildare are dependent on tourism and that tourism in Kildare contributes €127 million directly to the economy. Kildare is also associated with St. Brigid, who was the first feminist in Ireland and who is the patron saint of creativity. I have no doubt she will inspire the Minister.

Finally, I turn to the issue of our waterways. There are two canals in Kildare. I had the opportunity to be on a barge last week. There are only 28 serviced berths in the country. We need to explore our waterways and have a greater number of permanent berths.

I look forward to talking to the Minister about these issues at greater length on another occasion. I ask her to keep on the table a further cut to VAT in budget 2021.