Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 175: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the number of jobs her Department claimed will be created as part of published policy papers, reports and documents commissioned by or compiled by her Department between 2010 and 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20917/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is widely recognised that one of the contributions made by the sectors under the aegis of my Department to the Irish economy, in particular the Tourism and Culture sectors, is in the area of job creation, with the CSO showing employment in the accommodation and food sectors alone accounting for 119,500 jobs in 2009. The Report of the Tourism Renewal Group, which was published in October 2009, highlights the fact that tourism has a strong role to play as a source of employment, providing opportunities across a range of ages, skills levels, backgrounds, gender and family status – and in urban and rural, central and peripheral locations all over the country. The Report also pointed out that, drawing on an alternative approach for the measurement of tourism employment, an estimate of all jobs in the tourism and hospitality industry, based on a Fáilte Ireland survey of businesses, indicates total employment in the sector at approximately 200,000.

The objectives set for the sectors do not include employment targets per se. The Framework for Action proposed by the Tourism Renewal Group is designed to ensure that the Irish tourism industry survives as a strong and internationally competitive source of earnings, exports and employment and to provide the platform for future recovery and growth. There is no certainty as to when external conditions will provide the conditions for growth – but the global economy will return to growth and global tourism with it.

In the case of the Arts, Culture and Creative sectors, the objective is to continue to grow the sector at a rate well above the European average. The new enterprise model for the Irish economy – set out in the Government's "Building Ireland's Smart Economy - a framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal" - recognises the vital importance of the cultural and creative industries. These sectors, which also contribute hugely to the Irish Cultural Tourism product offering, will be key growth areas over the next decade, which Ireland must exploit for economic and employment opportunities.