Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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195. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the total amount of money spent on promoting County Wexford 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. [67871/25]

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.

Wexford is included in Fáilte Ireland’s “Ireland’s Ancient East” Regional Tourism Development Strategy 2023 – 2027. The Wexford Destination and Experience Development Plan (DEDP) which was launched earlier this year by Fáilte Ireland, aims to create a sustainable tourism destination by extending the tourism season and spreading business across all parts of the region over the next five years. The DEDP integrates both existing and new projects throughout the county, while also exploring new tourism development opportunities to enhance the value of the tourism sector in County Wexford. The strategy emphasises the need for greater connectivity among Wexford’s coastal, rural, and urban experiences to boost the county's appeal to international visitors. The DEDP has been developed through a collaborative approach and will be dependent on local tourism businesses, stakeholders and local communities working with Fáilte Ireland to implement this plan over next five years.

As part of Fáilte Ireland’s sponsorship of the RTÉ weather, a dedicated sting for Wexford is included in the annual rotation and runs for a 2-week period reaching on average 1.6 million people per week on average 8 times during 2025. This is supported with complementary messaging across RTÉ Player and RTE.ie. Tourism Ireland also regularly highlights Wexford to their 7.4 million followers on social media, sharing compelling content (stunning images and video) on platforms including Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Tourism Ireland, in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland, undertakes a programme of fact-finding visits for tour operators and travel agents from our key markets, so that they can experience the superb tourism product in Wexford. In September, fourteen Italian travel agents visited Ireland’s Ancient East, including County Wexford. Their itinerary included the Dunbrody Famine Ship and The Irish National Heritage Park. In May, twenty-four Spanish travel agents visited Ireland’s Ancient East, including Wells House near Kilmuckridge.

In 2024, the Dunbrody Famine Ship visitor experience in New Ross, Co. Wexford was officially opened following an investment of €1.6million which was part-funded by Fáilte Ireland.

Finally, Government funding has supported Fáilte Ireland’s ‘Platforms For Growth 2’ programme and 19 best-in-class water-sports facilities will be built across the country to help extend the outdoor tourism season by providing year-round hot showers, changing rooms, toilets, secure storage, induction spaces, and equipment washdown areas. I was delighted to open the first of these new facilities in August in Curracloe, County Wexford.