Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Officials of my Department and Fáilte Ireland meet with representatives of the Tourism Sector including the Car Rental Council of Ireland (CRCI) on a monthly basis. These meetings are hosted by Fáilte Ireland and focus on the key issues facing the sector and how the Department and Fáilte Ireland can assist with challenges industry are facing.

The Hospitality and Tourism Forum established during the pandemic meets regularly. I co-chair the forum along with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Forum provides a platform for structured engagement between the tourism and hospitality sectors and the relevant Government Departments where key issues can be discussed with a view of identifying practical solutions. The Forum is due to meet again in the coming weeks and the Car Rental Council of Ireland is represented in this Forum.

While my Department has no regulatory function in relation to the car rental sector, I am aware of the importance of the car rental fleet and indeed other transport modes to our tourism ecosystem, particularly rural tourism. However, international supply chain issues continue to impact on the pipeline of new cars and the Irish car rental fleet remains significantly smaller than in 2019 due to contraction during Covid and the aforementioned global supply issues.

Unfortunately, this is not within the immediate control of Government and there are no quick solutions.

I continue to urge all components of the wider tourism ecosystem to be mindful of the long-term impact of pricing on the value proposition which is critical to Ireland's ability to attract and retain tourists.