Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, to the House.

I represent the region of Roscommon and east Galway where there has been fantastic investment in key tourism and recreational initiatives. I want to highlight the key role of walking, cycling clubs and volunteers in our communities, as well as Tidy Towns and the real sense of pride we have in our towns and villages, and how these actively promote and work with tourism and rural recreation officers in our local authorities, as well as Fáilte Ireland, especially with the Hidden Heartlands.

Three projects I want to highlight are the Galway to Athlone cycleway, the Shannon tourism masterplan and the Beara-Breifne Way. The Galway-Athlone cycleway, planned by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, will really open up the area of south Roscommon. It will, hopefully, come along by the Shannon. The choice then on some of those routes mean it will come up along by the Grand Canal, publicly owned lands, into Ballinasloe. I am an advocate of those fantastic experiences of coming into Ballinasloe. The No. 1 green route will bring one along the Beara-Breifne Way into Ahascragh where a multimillion euro whiskey and gin distillery is planned along with a visitor centre. This is a fantastic investment in the future of a small town in east Galway.

There is the heritage and culture in other parts of east Galway such as Castleblakeney where one of the bog bodies in the National Museum was found. The Carrownagappul bog is one of the most unique raised bogs in Ireland. It was recently featured in an RTÉ programme and noted for its biodiversity with over 40 species of birds in the location. There is the Monivea forest, a Coillte-owned land. Another route could go along through the middle of the area through Aughrim and its amazing interpretative centre. There is the stunning Kilconnell Abbey, the impressive Woodlawn House and lovely bog walks around villages such as Cappataggle and New Inn.

While the cycleways programme is important, there has been recent investment through the roads programme under local authorities, particularly for the old Dublin to Galway road. I am sure everyone remembers that road from Ballinasloe to Athlone. Converting the hard shoulder into a cycleway is being examined to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

The just transition programme provides great funding going to Ballyforan along the banks of the River Suck with €1 million for a cycleway loop. The funds for active travel will be important for developing cycleways for areas with no footpaths in towns and villages in rural areas where it can be dangerous to walk.

The Shannon tourism masterplan will see funding of €76.5 million over ten years. This will be important for Roscommon and east Galway. Funding was announced recently under the outdoor infrastructure funding programme with over €200,000 for the harbour and walkways facilities in Roosky. The Shannon tourism masterplan is looking at options for visitor access to Lough Ree islands from Lecarrow, Portrunny Harbour, as well as from Hudson Bay and Lanesborough. It is important to look at how we develop this as soon as possible. It is amazing to see the amount of funding going into these projects but we really need it to happen quickly.

The River Suck is a main tributary of the River Shannon. It needs to be developed even more than what has already been listed in the Shannon tourism masterplan. Ballinasloe has four star and three star hotels with over 146 rooms available. It is the second largest town in Galway county. It has a range of activities from leisure centres to swimming pools to golf clubs. Ballinasloe Marina connects Ballinasloe and Shannonbridge to the River Shannon. It is highlighted by tourists as a quality route, particularly for water sports. Ballinasloe is the gateway to the west. I would like to see further development of this route under the Shannon tourism plan.

A masterplan was developed for the Beara-Breifne Way. It is an amazing route, 700 km, that goes through ten counties from Dursey Island in west Cork all the way up to Blacklion in Cavan. It is driven by some key people such as Jim O'Sullivan who sits on many community groups. It is a combination of many agencies working together such as Coillte, Waterways Ireland, Mountaineering Ireland, local authorities and Fáilte Ireland.

We have the Hymany Way along the Grand Canal into Ballinasloe. We have the Suck Valley Way. Farmers and landowners work to develop these trails for the enjoyment of all. We have the Lung Lough Gara Way which is one of the routes to be extended under the walks scheme. What is the timeline for that walk scheme? This will go from Clonalis House, Castlerea, to Lough Glynn to Ballaghaderreen to Boyle.

The walks scheme and rural recreation officers are extremely important. I suppose the following are the questions I have for the Minister. First, I refer to the local authority tourism officer capability programme. Will there be more resources allocated to local authorities? Galway is the second largest county, at 6,148 sq. km. Its local authority is second lowest in the context of funding. There is one tourism officer, who only started a number of months ago. She already has nearly 20 projects on her books. How on earth will these be completed? How is this possible? Galway is the second largest county in Ireland. Consideration has to be given to that fact. We need more resources for tourism officers, especially if we are to kick-start our economy subsequent to Covid and deal with the aftermath of the lockdown and Brexit. Second, is there a timeframe for local authorities to submit tourism strategies to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media? Third, on the walk scheme, as I mentioned, in the context of the extension of Lung Lough Gara Way, is there a timeline for applications from Sport Ireland? Is there a timeline in respect of the Beara Breifne Way? On Ireland's Hidden Heartlands, there has been great engagement, as Senator Carrigy mentioned, with Mr. Paddy Matthews, but why I do not see east Galway listed on the relevant website? East Galway is part of Ireland's Hidden Heartlands and needs to be acknowledged as such.

Our region is unique, comprising peat bogs to wildflower meadows, native woodlands to turloughs, lakes and marshes. We want to see more water sports, such as canoeing. We want to bring our walkways, blueways and cycleways together. There is a sense of pride in showing how Galway and Roscommon are wonderful places to live, work and visit, but it is crucial to get investment to kick-start this sector, especially now. Time is of the essence.