Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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546. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to support tourism businesses and visitor attractions in County Kildare ahead of Brexit; the financial support provided by his Department and agencies under the aegis of his Department to visitor attractions in County Kildare in 2017, 2018 and to date in 2019; the locations of those attractions; the number of tourists to County Kildare in 2016, 2017 and 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9327/19]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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My Department has supported a number of measures aimed at mitigating the impact of Brexit on tourism businesses operating in Ireland, such as Fáilte Ireland's Get Brexit Ready programme and targeted tourism marketing campaigns in the UK.

Fáilte Ireland also continues to provide a wide range of supports for tourism businesses and attractions throughout the country to help create new experiences and enhance existing ones; extend the season; and enhance the skills and business capability of tourism enterprises.

Tourism businesses and attractions also stand to benefit from Fáilte Ireland's continued development and promotion of the established tourism experience brands, targeted capital investments and programme supports aimed at further enhancing, animating and promoting these brands. For County Kildare, the relevant brand is Ireland's Ancient East.

I have asked Fáilte Ireland to provide the Deputy with further detail in regard to the types and level of supports it provides to tourism businesses and visitor attractions in County Kildare and any county-level statistics it has on tourist numbers.

With specific regard to the Deputy's query regarding the number of tourists visiting County Kildare, I must clarify that the collection and dissemination of official statistical information, including information relating to tourist numbers and expenditure, is a matter for the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Although the CSO does not publish tourism performance figures for individual counties, I am aware that Fáilte Ireland estimates individual county performance based on CSO data.

Please contact my office if you do not hear within ten working days.