Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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115. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way in which Fáilte Ireland is supporting the promotion of County Kildare as a tourist destination in the domestic and international market given its rich culture and heritage as a county. [22826/25]

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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124. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if there are funding streams available to support local tourism initiatives in north Kildare that promote its unique heritage, including its ties with the Guinness family and brand, considering it is one of Ireland's most successful business stories. [22825/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 and 124 together.

The Deputy will appreciate that tourism is now the policy responsibility of my colleague, Peter Burke TD. Following the making of a Government Order on Tuesday, statutory responsibility for the sector will transfer to Minister Burke from 1 June. Minister Burke has already had a number of engagements with key tourism stakeholders across a range of priority areas.

County Kildare is included in Fáilte Ireland’s Ireland’s Ancient East Regional Tourism Development Strategy 2023 – 2027. This roadmap will help navigate the current challenges and steer a course towards a sustainable recovery and continued success. The plan sets out a strategic approach to unlocking the commercial potential of Ireland’s Ancient East. It will ensure focus on tourism development is sustainable and that the benefits accrue to local communities and to nature.

Fáilte Ireland’s focus for promoting the regions has included significant investment into brand building through individual ‘Keep Discovering’ campaigns for each of the four regional experience brands, as well as media publicity, digital channels, and online sales platforms. All four regional brands are being promoted across a mix of TV, press, radio, digital and social.. Kildare features as part of the Ireland's Ancient East "Keep Discovering" ad which airs throughout the year on broadcast and video-on-demand TV reaching 55% of the adult population each week when live. This is supported with complementary messaging across YouTube and other social channels.

Fáilte Ireland is continuing to focus on building the regional brands, encouraging domestic visitors to visit destinations across the country and, through online booking and sales and marketing supports, working with local industry to help them convert this interest into increased sales for their business. Significant supports have been provided to the Kildare area on Fáilte Ireland's discoverireland.ie website for domestic visitors. This is a one-stop shop that showcases the wealth of attractions to see in Kildare.

Fáilte Ireland's “Destination Towns” scheme was designed to boost the attractiveness and tourism appeal of towns nationwide. Kildare County Council received €390,000 from that scheme for enhancements in Market Square in Kildare Town. It aims to increase the dwell-time of visitors locally and encourage more visitors to Kildare Village to spend more time locally.

Kildare is also one of the 8 counties to benefit from the €68 million EU Just Transition Regenerative Tourism Scheme for Ireland’s Midlands which will strengthen the appeal of the Midlands as a tourism destination. Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park, for instance, will see the addition of an electric train along with two enclosed passenger carriages to facilitate guided tours. This project was awarded funding of €300,000.