George Lawlor: Tourism is Rural Ireland's Lifeline

Thank you last Comhairle. Minister I welcome the opportunity to speak in the chamber on as you know this hugely important yet too often underestimated pillar of our national economy. Tourism is and shouldn't be a luxury add-on to our economic strategy nor a seasonal afterthought. It is an extremely important component of our national economy, one that sustains many of our rural communities in particular, it supports small business, preserves our cultural heritage and in many respects keeps rural Ireland alive and if we are serious about balanced regional development then we must be serious about tourism. It contributes billions annually to the Irish economy, it supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, many of them in rural counties where alternative industries are often limited. It drives demand for hospitality, for transport, for food production, crafts and festivals and cultural experiences. It's one of the few sectors that reaches into every parish, every town, every county and where tourism thrives the entire nation thrives. But when tourism is neglected rural Ireland feels it first and feels it hardest. Nowhere is this more evident than my own county of Wexford. Wexford is a county whose identity, economy and social fabrics are massively intertwined with tourism. We are blessed with natural beauty, cultural richness and a heritage that stretches from the Norman invasion via bag and bun to the 1798 rebellion to the modern arts festivals that draw visitors from across the world. But of course blessings alone do not sustain an economy, investment does, vision does and leadership does. 2027 is the year of the Norman. A few years back I had the pleasure of hosting a delegation from Normandy including Normandy's president of its regional council Harvey Moran. Normandy has a population of 3.3 million and incredibly they had very little knowledge of Ireland's and indeed Wexford's connection to Normandy. In a series like this we should be looking to connect with via much bigger national investment. There's huge potential in that connection particularly since Brexit. The people of Normandy used to send their children to England to learn English. Ireland now has a terrific opportunity because of the constraints after Brexit. If we look at a sister city of Wexford, Savannah in Georgia, huge historic connections with Ireland, huge historic connections with Wexford. Some 57% of the population there traced their heritage back to County Wexford. The city itself has a population of 170,000 people. Yet last year it had 13 million visitors. If you compare that to Ireland we had 6.4 million visitors. Yet there's no direct flight to Savannah despite the huge connections. As an example there's just opened a 16,000 square foot Wexford bar in the heart of Savannah. I don't know whether you've been there but it's a wonderful tourism addition and could be an embassy for our tourism industry. We also need to look to exploit in a sustainable way what's available on our doorsteps. As an example our seas and our rivers. It's estimated that between 8 and 10 million people participate in sea angling across Europe every year generating an annual economic impact of 8 to 10 billion. France has reported 1.4 million recreational anglers. England and Wales shows historically participation reaches over 4.2 million split between course game and sea angling. Wexford has hosted the world and European shore angling competitions in the recent past and will do again no doubt in the future because of our dual coastline. It's a perfect area for angling depending on the direction of the wind. Yet we really don't pursue the opportunities that are clear in this sector and there's something that we really really should be looking at. The attractions that we see across the globe or across the country are not just points on a map, they're economic lifelines. They sustain jobs in hotels, cafes, B&Bs, restaurants, taxi shops and activity providers. They support farmers who supply local produce. They keep our towns vibrant and our villages open. In Wexford tourism is not an optional extra it is the cornerstone of our prosperity. Local authorities are expected to promote tourism, develop local strategies, support festivals, maintain public amenities and market their regions. But they are expected to do all of this with budgets that I believe are wholly inadequate for the scale of the task. We cannot keep asking local authorities to deliver world-class tourism outcomes on shoestring budgets. It's unrealistic, it's unfair and it's holding back the potential of counties like Wexford. If we want tourism to flourish then we must invest in the people and institutions that make it happen. Local authorities need substantial, multi-year, ring-fence funding for tourism promotion. Not ad hoc grants, not once-off allocations, not competitive schemes that pick counties against each other. What they need is predictable, strategic investment that allows them to plan, to innovate and to build long-term capacity. Imagine what Wexford County Council and all other local authorities across the country could achieve with a properly funded Tourism Promotion Department. We could expand international marketing campaigns. We could develop new and more greenways, blueways and heritage trails. We could support more festivals, not just the flagship ones, but the smaller community led events that gives towns their identity. Minister, we can really do so much more with this product.