Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a breakdown of the various Office of Public Works tourism and heritage sites in West Cork along with their corresponding footfall figures for the four quarters in 2011 and 2012 separately; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55119/12]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works manages a number of National Monuments and Historic Properties in Co. Cork. Of these, four are presented to the public with a guide service. Full visitor numbers are available for these sites.

(Statistics are taken from weekly returns from sites produced for week Monday to Sunday)

Doneralie Park attracts a large number of visitors who enjoy the parkland. There is no formal “admission” as such and there are therefore no official visitor numbers available for Doneraile. Over the last three years, however, the number of visitors has increased. This is due mainly to the programme of improvements such as the playground, new carpark, restoration of bridges, and the re-opening of the Tearooms. One of the projects for next year is to have a visitor counter installed which will provide an accurate record of visitors to this site in the future.

Other National Monument sites in Co. Cork such as Kanturk Castle, Mallow Castle, Buttevant Friary, Drombeg Stone Circle, Labbacallee Wedge Tomb and Glanworth Castle and medieval buildings collectively attract significant numbers of visitors. Sites such as these are open to visitors at all times but formal visitor statistics are not collected.