Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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45. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she remains satisfied regarding the adequacy of tourist accommodation to facilitate both visitors to the country and the local population; if it continues to be adequate to meet the demand; if she has identified any issues which might impact negatively or positively and the need for remediation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36952/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The importance of the tourism sector to the Irish economy and to communities in every corner of the country is well understood and the use of tourist accommodation to support the Government’s response to the humanitarian crisis has impacted the sector.

On 28 March, the Government agreed a new comprehensive accommodation strategy for International Protection applicants that will see a move away from full reliance on private accommodation providers towards a State-owned accommodation resource, delivering 14,000 beds by 2028.    Legislative changes introduced on 14 March 2024 mean that anyone fleeing the war in Ukraine who registers for temporary protection and is looking for State-provided accommodation in Ireland will be accommodated for a maximum of 90 days in designated accommodation centres. 

The reliance by the State on the use of tourism accommodation for humanitarian purposes is reducing and Fáilte Ireland's most recent analysis of data from the Department of Children, Equality, Disabililty, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) in May 2024 showed that 10% of registered tourism accommodation stock was under contract to the State, down from 12% in November 2023. An additional quantum of tourism-type accommodation that is not registered with Fáilte Ireland is also contracted to the State. 

Fáilte Ireland will undertake a further analysis of new data from DCEDIY in Q4 2024.

In this context, I am satisfied that Ireland has an adequate tourist accommodation capacity to meet current demand, notwithstanding occasional high-demand compression weekends, typically driven by major music or sporting events, when there is exceptional demand

There is of course always room for improvement and innovation in the appeal, quality and sustainability of the tourism accommodation offering and this is an ongoing market-driven challenge for accommodation providers in the sector, guided and supported by national policy.

This challenge is being met through continuous investment in training, standards and bedstock by the sector, with significant State support from Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland through their marketing, training and standards programmes and initiatives.  Both tourism agencies regularly review their approach in this regard in order to optimise the relevance and efficacy for the sector of these programmes and initiatives.