Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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70. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the total amount of money spent on promoting County Louth as a tourist destination to date in 2025; the nature and extent of this promotion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62176/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Regional development is a key focus of our Programme for Government and is central to the work of my Department and our Agencies. At the outset, I should clarify that regional tourism promotion is an operational matter for Fáilte Ireland, in collaboration with Local Authorities and other tourism stakeholders, and that Fáilte Ireland do not allocate its marketing spend on a county by county basis.

The Programme for Government provides that this Government will work with Fáilte Ireland to develop a balanced regional spread of tourism throughout the country, promoting and enhancing the Hidden Heartlands, Ireland's Ancient East, the Wild Atlantic Way and Dublin. Fáilte Ireland has established localised Destination Experience Development Plans (DEDPs) to activate these brands.

Louth is included in Ireland’s Ancient East Regional Tourism Development Strategy 2023 – 2027. The ‘Ancient’ Destination Experience Development Plan (DEDP), which was launched in May 2021, is a five-year plan designed to be a roadmap for enhancing the existing visitor proposition to achieve the objectives of addressing seasonality, increasing visitor numbers, improving dwell time and visitor dispersion in the Boyne Valley & surrounding areas of both Meath & Louth. Key achievements to date include the completion of a plan to re-imagine the Boyne Valley Drive and the development of an outdoor Destination Orientation Development Plan for Carlingford & the Cooley Peninsula.

In May, I announced the recipients of funding under Fáilte Ireland’s new Home of Halloween Pilot Destination Development Scheme. A total of €2.1 million will be invested over the next three years (2025–2028) which aims to establish Ireland as the authentic global home of Halloween. Each successful destination, which included a joint proposal by Meath County Council and Louth County Council, will receive up to €100,000 annually to develop Halloween-themed festivals that celebrate Ireland’s heritage and attract visitors during the off-peak season. Marketing efforts under the Keep Discovering campaign and international media visits arranged by Fáilte Ireland, have also further elevated Louth’s profile.

In 2024, Tourism Ireland generated positive publicity in international media outlets for County Louth with a reach of almost 72 million. Some publicity highlights to date by Tourism Ireland in 2025 have included:

• A new TV series, called “Anna Haugh’s Big Irish Food Tour”, fronted by celebrity chef Anna Haugh and supported by Tourism Ireland, aired on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer earlier this year. In the final episode, British singer Shane Ward joined Anna in County Louth.
• Tourism Ireland invited five German journalists – with a combined audience of 1.6 million – to visit the Cooley Peninsula in spring. They heard about the myths and legends of this part of Ireland.