Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome. I also commend and fully support the Bill.

Tourism has been one of the major success stories in the country with significant investment being made. It is important that we insulate and nurture it because the figures seem to be going in the right direction but we have to make sure that continues. We have so many things going positively for tourism, but there are also some negatives. Around each corner there are many beautiful amenities. In the midlands, where I come from, we have the Hidden Heartlands brand, The latter showcases our natural environment, scenery, culture, history, dance and music. I was involved with former Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran in having the Hidden Heartlands brand developed. There was a certain level of resistance from Fáilte Ireland to add another brand to its offering. When it looked into the and carried out feasibility studies, however, it found that it was what people were looking for. People want slow and easy tourism in the natural environment among our lakes, waterways and rivers. Those are things we have plenty of. We have the development of the Royal Canal, which has been completed from Cloondara on the River Shannon right up to Maynooth. Ultimately, the plan is to redevelop it all the way from Maynooth right up to Spencer Dock. When I was a member of Longford County Council - and I am still involved with Longford tourism - we had plans to try to connect with the western greenway in order that there would be an off-road walkway the entire way from Dublin to Achill Island.

The Minister mentioned Platforms for Growth. I was disappointed because we had a submission in last year for a project on the former Army barracks site in Longford, which made it to the last 11, but, unfortunately, which was not one that was picked. We have lots of fantastic initiatives that have been supported by Government, however, including the Knights and Conquest Heritage Centre in north Longford, which is in receipt of over €3 million, between rural regeneration and Fáilte Ireland funding, to develop a project on the site of the highest moat in Ireland. We also have the Maria Edgeworth Centre in Edgeworthstown and we have Corlea Trackway Visitor Centre. A great deal of investment has gone into a county that has had the lowest tourist numbers for many years. The development of the Hidden Heartlands brand has given us an opportunity to showcase what we have. Centre Parcs brought an investment of more than €230 million to the county, with an extra €90 million to be invested with the additional planning application it put in to increase the number of lodges on-site. Ultimately, this will bring the number of visitors to County Longford each week up to more than 3,500. It is up to Longford County Council and its tourism group to make sure that they show what we have and that people will stay and visit other sites in the county so we will get the benefit of that. I want to put on record my thanks to the Hidden Heartlands team, led by Paddy Matthews. They have done a fantastic amount of work. Post Covid, that team will drive those figures up and increase the tourist numbers coming into the county.

There are risks to the industry too. We have skill shortages, a lack of hotel accommodation and increased costs due to the economic uncertainty. Government has put in place the scheme for high additional energy costs, which was only opened in the last week.

I recently met the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, to discuss skills shortages.. While great strides have been made under the apprenticeship scheme, we need to do more. We have seen the opening in the Cathaoirleach's county of Kerry of a tourism and hospitality link with the college of further education there. Another such college needs to be opened in the midlands. We even have the ideal site at the Connolly Barracks site in our county, next door to the college of further education, where we could develop a college of culinary excellence in tandem with courses in tourism and hospitality. In so doing, we could make sure we service the tourism and hospitality industry with people who are qualified and make sure that people look on it as a good career. The Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media has been hearing that all businesses are struggling to get employees, so that is something that needs to be looked at. I spoke with Tús, the Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board, the local authority, the Irish Hotels Federation, the Restaurants Association of Ireland and Centre Parcs about this matter. Everyone knows that this needs to be done; we just need to make it happen. I would welcome any support from the Minister on that.

Tourism was a success story after the recession. We built it up to provide over 260,000 jobs in our economy. We need to continue to support it. We heard anecdotal evidence that the numbers will be down next year. I am not an opponent of the 9% VAT rate; that needs to be kept for another year. I ask that this be considered. We also have to take a serious look at hotel accommodation. There are certain towns, including my county town, where if you want to get a hotel bed, you cannot do so. That needs to be looked at. I know we have a situation whereby we have to provide support, but we also need to have a maximum percentage limit on the number of beds that can be taken up by the State in order to have at least a certain number of beds available for the tourism industry or for people coming into a town. I ask that this be considered. There has been a lot of negativity towards hotels because a small number of them engaged in price gouging. However, many did not do so. I know that from experience. I went west to Enniscrone during the summer, in August, and had a three-night break for under €700 for a family of five. That was quite reasonable. We should not knock the entire industry for what a small number of hotels did, but we need to look at the availability of rooms if we want our tourism industry to continue next year.