Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the involvement he has had with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in planning The Gathering; the meetings that have taken place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21683/12]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the budget that has been allocated by the cultural institutions for marketing cultural institutions and heritage sites for the Gathering tourism initiative. [21415/12]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 131 together.

While The Gathering event is primarily a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I am conscious of the tourism potential of our heritage and culture for attracting the Irish Diaspora to our shores and I welcome my fellow Minister's initiative. The Minister has stated that he expects The Gathering to be one of the biggest tourism initiatives ever staged in Ireland. It will be a year-long event in 2013, where people at home and abroad can play a part in the country's recovery, potentially bringing in 325,000 extra tourists and providing a major economic stimulus.

I believe that The Gathering is a hugely important and timely initiative for the tourism sector and one that my Department, together with the cultural and heritage bodies which operate under its aegis, including the National Cultural Institutions, will be pleased to support and participate in. While no specific funding has been identified for marketing in relation to The Gathering, the Directors of the Cultural Institutions are aware of the potential increase in visitor numbers that could be achieved during the event. As such, they will ensure that 2013 marketing plans for their Institutions will be carried out with The Gathering in mind and with a view to attracting more of these visitors.

I would also see the proposed Gathering as an excellent opportunity to enhance genealogical tourism. In that context, officials from my Department are working closely with their colleagues in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and in agencies within its ambit - Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. Genealogical records made available through my Department and bodies under its aegis have been extremely popular with the public, at home and abroad. The success of the digitisation project of the 1901-1911 Censuses is the best proof of this. This website, hosted and managed by the National Archives of Ireland, has proved to be phenomenally popular, with over 698 million hits and over 14 million individual visits to date. The Certificate of Irish Heritage has now been linked to that site.