Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister starts talking about accommodation audits and providing gap analysis, the eyes of most people in the industry will just glaze over because that is not really a tangible response. Looking at additional accommodation development, we have accommodation, it is just being used for different purposes. The Minister should look at getting some of that accommodation back into use for tourism for next year. That is the easiest way to do it

Six months ago, the Minister was in this Chamber. On that day, she said: "I have asked Fáilte Ireland to do an analysis. It is really key and only prudent to be ready and not to ask 'what we do'?" This was six months ago when the data was gathered. She said that everything had to be evidence-based and data had to be gathered, but: "we need to have those mitigation measures in place and ready to go". Six months on, nothing in her response suggests to me that any mitigation measures are in place or even ready to go. That is really disappointing and worrying for the tourism sector, particularly in the western region, where most of the accommodation is being provided.

Regarding the impact on the sector, the Minister will be very aware of it because Fáilte Ireland has provided this information to her on a rolling basis, almost month-by-month. The most recent figures show that the impact on downstream tourism businesses is between €700 million and €1 billion annually. The lower figure being the most conservative if only looking at registered accommodation. If just half of the unregistered accommodation is factored in, it goes up to €1 billion of an economic impact on downstream tourism businesses. The Minister wants more information. I think that is enough information to prompt any Minister to act with urgency and put in place the mitigation plans she said she would six months ago.