Conor D McGuinness presses for solutions to rural hotel shortage

I take this question on behalf of Deputy Mac Carthy and ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to reveal his engagement with other government departments and state agencies to support hotels in rural communities. Dr McGuinness is doing super sub today. Within my department's Rural Development Investment Programme there are a range of schemes that provide capital funding with a focus on the economic and social development of our rural areas. These schemes do not, however, include a specific focus on the provision of hotel accommodation. However, there are a limited number of projects which have been supported by the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund and the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, which have seen short-stay accommodation facilities included as part of a wider multifunctional project. Similarly, whilst LEADER does not generally support hotel-based projects, it has supported projects related to tourist accommodation, for example, through support for glamping projects and other tourism-focused initiatives. In all cases, in terms of funding, many of those tend to be towards community co-op-based initiatives. More widely, the sustainability of our rural businesses, including tourism and hospitality, is clearly enhanced by the provision of public and community infrastructure. The funding made available by my department through a range of schemes, such as RRDF and Enterprise, is clearly having positive impacts in this regard. Across governmental level, responsibility for business, enterprise and tourism resides with my colleague Peter Burke as Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. This includes responsibility for the National Tourism Policy Statement, A New Era for Irish Tourism, which was published in December 2025 and sets out the government's long-term approach to the development of Irish tourism. I can confirm, Deputy, that as part of my department's ongoing work developing the successor policy to our rural future, my officials are engaging with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in respect of its remit. The next iteration of our rural future will include a focus on both rural tourism and on rural enterprise generally. Work on the development of the policy is ongoing. It is drawing on a wide-ranging consultation process, and I hope to be in a position to publish it before the summer. Thank you. Deputy? That's very welcome, Minister, that this issue is under consideration and forms part of your engagement with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. This is a real issue that's impacting particularly rural communities. The lack of tourist accommodation, be it hotel, be it hostel accommodation or, indeed, other kinds of accommodation, glamping pods and all the rest, is really hampering economic development and economic diversification in rural areas, which come under the remit of your department. But it's also adding to the rural housing crisis that is of concern for many government departments, of concern to all of us here in the House, but obviously has a particular resonance with your responsibilities as Minister. The move to short-term lets, because of the absence of suitable hotel accommodation in many areas, is having a disproportionate impact on those rural and coastal communities that are already under huge housing pressure. I'm thinking of Gaeltacht areas, areas like Ardmore in my own constituency. And then the measures that were announced a number of weeks ago to address the mushrooming, I suppose, of short-term lettings doesn't cater for towns the likes of Duncarron and Tremor that are under the 20,000 threshold. So we just need to see action on this. I welcome the fact that there's an understanding of the seriousness of the situation, but we need to see action, Minister. Absolutely. What we want to try and do, Deputy, is promote enterprise and promote the attractiveness of rural areas. We have developed, specifically under ARIS, under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme, that is one that is enhancing the attractiveness of trails, of visitor attractions, that in turn make a rural area more attractive and more feasible for hotel investment. Since 2020, we've invested €110 million in over 1,300 outdoor recreation projects across the country. Through LEADER, over €52 million have been invested across the country, with over €9 million of that invested in tourism-related and rural tourism and recreation projects. As I said, we are having discussions with the Department of Tourism in the context of the preparation of our rural future. Folchie Ireland have a very strong capital programme to roll out at major visitor attractions. So, for instance, in your own constituency, the water for Greenway is now seen as the standard for Greenways nationally, and that has probably opened up a huge amount of opportunities in the more rural parts of your constituency. Thank you, Minister. That is the kind of thing we want to do. The investment in infrastructure opens up the investment, enhancements and attractiveness for tourism investment. Thank you, Dara, and you're right that much of the attractions are there. They're of a really high standard. The Greenway in Waterford is a classic example. Unfortunately, the availability of accommodation, of tourist accommodation, hasn't kept pace. What we've also seen on top of that is the use of tourist accommodation, particularly hotels, for the state's responses to the various refugee crises over the last number of years. Your colleague the Minister for Justice has signalled a move away from that approach in the coming time. But there is a concern that many of the hotels that have been used will not return to tourist accommodation, and there are examples of that in Dungarvan and in other areas. And also that there has been no recognition for the economic impact of the loss of tourist accommodation. So, we have the Community Recognition Fund, for example, and many great things have come from that scheme. But there's no similar one to look at the enterprise loss or the difficulties that have experienced because of the loss of tourist accommodation. I think it's something that, between Minister Burke and Minister O'Callaghan and yourself, it could be a conversation worth having to see if there is a similar scheme that could operate on that basis, that would somehow support this tourist accommodation coming back on stream when possible to do so, and that there would be some recognition to those tourism operators and people operating in that space who have lost business over the last number of years. No, I agree with the Deputy, and certainly we are looking at, in terms of our engagements with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, how we can maximise it. You've pointed out to an area that as tourism accommodation comes back on stream to make it more attractive, I don't see the Department getting involved in investing in commercial hotel projects. I wouldn't like to create an expectation that there would be that kind of investment. Many hotels have reinvested the proceeds of what they received under the various international protection contracts back into facilities, but what we will do is invest in the infrastructure, invest in the community-led infrastructure that makes it attractive for an operator to invest. I am looking, and I am interested, and we have a number of projects where they're community-led, or community co-op-led. In particular, you mentioned glamping, we're looking at that kind of process, which might work in terms of social enterprise in the more rural of areas, but that's certainly a space that I'm anxious to do more in, in relation to community-led tourism projects, community-led tourism accommodation projects.