Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

As the House knows, the Ryder Cup, a world renowned event, is coming to Adare, County Limerick, in 2027. It would be remiss of us not to look at the tourism prospects this could bring to Ireland. In County Limerick, we have what is called the Desmond trail. It has Adare Castle, Askeaton Castle and Desmond community centre in Newcastle West.

Adare Castle only opens from June to September, with limited space so you will see minibuses going in there. Askeaton Castle has been closed for the past three years until further notice, even though we opened a new parklet a couple of weeks ago in Askeaton town. Askeaton also has an impressive Franciscan friary which would bring an awful lot of tourists to the town.

We need to look at building a tourism plan off the back of the Ryder Cup to ensure tourism is boosted, not just around the time of the Ryder Cup but also in the future. We need to look at OPW sites to see what we can do to get them back up and running all year around. In somewhere like Adare they could be open all year around because it is a big tourist village.