Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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362. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to parliamentary question number 210 of 3 May 2017, if he will review the phase two restoration works to Maynooth Castle, Maynooth, County Kildare, in the context of the current capital review, in view of the importance of the castle to Maynooth and the wider region as a tourist attraction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25530/17]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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The Office of Public Works has in the last approx. 2 years, in the context of the development of a Tourism Capital Development Programme which will be co-funded by Fáilte Ireland, engaged in an appraisal of the heritage estate in their care with a view to identifying those possibilities which best meet the criteria for enhancing tourism assets within the Ireland’s Ancient East Brand area. This Programme forms a significant part of the recent Capital Review carried out by the OPW and the early development targets are included in the spending targets for the Office over the period immediately ahead.

While all of the current visitor locations in the relevant parts of the country, including Co. Kildare sites, were considered for investment, it is clear that certain properties have a better short and medium term tourism development potential because of factors such as an identified visitor need, site availability, existing tourism traffic etc. It is felt that a targeted capital investment in these locations in particular would best meet the needs of the Tourism Programme and would yield exponentially better outcomes in terms of generating visitor footfall at these locations. The Maynooth site, while it is performing relatively well as a local and a seasonal tourism site, is not considered, in this early phase of the Programme, to offer as significant a potential for tourism generation.

The Tourism Capital Development Programme is intended to progress over a 5 year period and will involve the continuing reappraisal of all investment options on an ongoing basis.