Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the extent to which he has influenced the policy makers in respect of the growth and development of the tourism industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28546/05]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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One of the key features of the report of the Tourism Policy Review Group, New Horizons for Irish Tourism An Agenda for Action, is that it clearly highlights the different stakeholders that affect tourism development, and the need for co-ordinated and integrated action to influence the wider agenda that impacts on Irish tourism.

At the time of its launch, in September 2003, I undertook to ensure that the large number of recommendations would be pursued, not only by my own Department and the State agencies under my remit, but also with industry representative bodies and my ministerial colleagues, having secured Government approval to engage in consultations with the Ministers involved on the implications of the recommended actions in the report affecting them.

For my part, in order to ensure that the implementation of the tourism action plan was given the priority recommended by the review group, I established a high-level implementation group, under the chairmanship of Mr. John Travers, to drive forward and monitor the plan. I am very appreciative of the commitment shown by the chair and members of the implementation group. I believe that their approach is very robust and wide-ranging, their deliberations are insightful and the level of engagement with stakeholders is very meaningful.

My Department is providing the secretariat to the implementation group and is using the process as a mechanism for more effective interaction with other Departments through which, for example, very productive dialogue has been developed with the Departments of Transport and Finance. Considerable attention is now devoted to having a more proactive role in influencing the decisions, programmes and policies of other Departments and agencies, for example, through input into memoranda for Government and by participating at meetings such as the National Competitiveness Council, the Tax Strategy Group, the enterprise strategy monitoring group and the committee on the implementation of the Consumer Strategy Group. The efforts are bearing fruit with growing recognition of tourism policy concerns in decision making and consultative processes outside the Department's aegis.

The review group's conclusion was that the "ultimate determinant of success in Irish tourism will be an energetic, innovative and profitable private sector operating within a domestic environment where Government policies and actions are supportive of business investment in tourism". Setting a target to double overseas visitor spend, to €6 billion by 2012, was a challenging one but I believe there is a real confidence, within the industry, that the full potential of the sector can be realised through shared understanding and partnership, between key decision makers in both the public and private sectors. I see my role as facilitating that understanding and partnership and I remain fully committed to it.