Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to congratulate Ms Eileen Morrissey, the Wexford county librarian, on her election as president of the Library Association of Ireland. We all know the importance of libraries in our community and how they operate to support learning and all sorts of new activities. I wish Eileen and the team the very best of luck.

I am very conscious that we have raised previously in this House the question of the shortage of tourism accommodation in rural communities. We have discussed this in detail at the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media. Quite a number of representatives from arts organisations appeared before the committee yesterday. I raised the issue that over the summer in County Galway as much as County Wexford and other parts of the country, various arts festivals will take place and the big problem that will arise is the shortage of accommodation. A number of the speakers who were present raised their concern that not alone would visitors to those areas be unable to get reasonably priced accommodation, or any accommodation at all in some of our rural communities, but also that they are finding it difficult to find accommodation for artists and those taking part in quite a number of our festivals.

The arts community has been incredibly generous in looking at ways of integrating new communities into our country. We must address the issue of providing alternative homes for displaced persons and refugees. I am concerned that there will be a major impact on summer festivals right around the country if there is not sufficient accommodation in rural communities.

I am sure the Acting Leader can think of festivals that will take place in Galway. People will not travel if they know they are not going to be able to stay for a particular weekend or a few days of those festivals and that has a knock-on impact. This feeds into the bigger discussion we are having around the impact on rural tourism. While hotels and other types of accommodation are well remunerated, it has a knock-on impact on the coffee shops, restaurants and other tourism facilities within the area. There have been urgent calls for a debate on this. As I mentioned, we have had quite detailed discussion at the joint committee on tourism. The House needs to take a lead on this, however. I would be grateful if the Acting Leader would work with the Leader in ensuring that could be facilitated.