Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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645. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he or Department officials have had any discussions with Ministers or officials of other Departments on the possible impact a proliferation of windfarms may have on the tourism industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40978/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department and I work closely with other Government Departments to consider all policies which could potentially affect the tourism industry. In this regard, officials from my Department are represented on relevant inter-Departmental groups including the National Landscape Strategy Steering Committee, under my colleague, Jimmy Deenihan T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. In addition, Fáilte Ireland is a prescribed body under Planning and Development legislation for all planning applications which may have a significant impact from a tourism perspective. In 2007, in order to inform tourism policy on windfarm developments, Fáilte Ireland undertook significant research amongst both overseas and domestic visitors, to determine visitor attitudes towards windfarms. This research was repeated again in 2012 to determine any changes in visitor attitudes over that period. This research is about to be published as a position paper by Fáilte Ireland, and allows an evidence based approach to be taken to the evaluation of windfarm applications in Ireland by the National Tourism Development Authority.

Finally, I, along with Minister Ring, launched of a public consultation on tourism policy on 11th September 2013. This review of tourism policy is designed to give tourism stakeholders an opportunity to comment on all matters of relevance to the future development of the Irish tourism sector.