Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 23: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which he and or his Department has examined the costs affecting the transport and tourism sectors with particular reference to identifying and isolating those costs currently having the greatest negative impact on the sectors; if he will indicate the degree to which initiatives can be taken to address such issues notwithstanding the current economic situation with having particular regard to the need to identify and address all factors affecting these industries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26619/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has no direct control of transport costs in general but keeps under review costs arising from the services provided through our agencies.

Cost competitiveness is a key consideration for Ireland as an open export-oriented economy and transport is one of the many factors influencing that competitiveness.

The Government's plans to improve competitiveness are set out in the Programme for Government and place a heavy emphasis on the delivery of effective transport services. I have also outlined my transport and tourism priorities to 2016 on my Department's website. In addition, the Government's Jobs Initiative includes a number of measures intended to stimulate tourism by increasing the competitiveness of access transport and our tourism product.

In the tourism sector, the Government has also introduced measures such as the VAT cut, reduced employers PRSI, and the visa waiver scheme, to support competitiveness as well as key investments to upgrade our tourism products and attractions. Furthermore, Fáilte Ireland are currently carrying out research into state imposed costs and regulatory burden in the industry, which will help inform my Department's future policy output.

More generally, my colleague Minister for Small Business John Perry has established the Small Business Advisory Group which provides for a dialogue between the Minister for Small Business and representatives of the small business sector on issues of concern to that sector on how to promote the economic development and job potential of the sector having regard to the current restraints imposed on the national finances and to recommend action points and follow up. Given the predominance of SMEs in the Tourism sector, this group's work will be of particular importance to that sector.