Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Central Statistics Office does not identify tourism as a sector for classification for economic activity; his views on whether this hinders Ireland's ability to accurately assess the true value of tourism to the economy; if he will lobby the CSO to introduce a tourism satellite account classification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10826/08]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Identifying and communicating the extent of the real contribution of Tourism to the national economy is a considerable policy challenge which many other jurisdictions share with Ireland. Tourism does not, as the Deputy has noted, fit into one tidy economic classification. Because of that, there can, unfortunately, be a tendency to undervalue or downplay its economic contribution. That is why our current policy approach seeks to include an advocacy role at Government and official level in terms of highlighting the importance of a sector that is estimated to contribute a total of €6.5 billion annually to the economy and to provide close to a quarter of a million jobs.

A Satellite Account is a term developed by the United Nations to measure the economic sectors that are not defined as industries in national accounts. Tourism, for example, is made up of a range of industries such as transportation, accommodation, food and beverage services, recreation and entertainment and travel agencies. A Tourism Satellite Account, or "TSA" as it is commonly known, is a subset of the National Accounts which seeks to give a comprehensive picture of the contribution of Tourism to the national economy. The TSA model is now well established having been adopted by organisations such as the OECD, UNWTO and Eurostat.

Under the aegis of the British Irish Council and with some financial assistance from the EU, an initial "First Steps" TSA was produced in 2004 by a UCC/UL consortium. I believe that we should build on that experience and seek to produce a more comprehensive TSA for Ireland. I have, in fact, already been in touch with the CSO about this. My Department will be working with the CSO, the Tourism Agencies and others to progress this project in the future.