We do not need a Tourism Cabinet as all ministers liaise, says Donohoe

Raymond Kearney’s comments last Friday (Irish Examiner, June 11), in respect of the development of tourism in Ireland, raise a number of issues.

Firstly, Mr. Kearney called for a ‘tourism Cabinet’ to co-ordinate the actions of the various ministries that impact on tourism. This presupposes that it is possible to separate out ministers whose actions are more relevant than others’ to tourism. Every Department has areas within its portfolio that are relevant to tourism. So the full Cabinet is the appropriate forum at which policy measures should be considered. My Department liaises with others in determining tourism policies. In respect of a strategic direction for the country, consider our new tourism document: ‘People, Place and Policy — Growing Tourism to 2025’, which charts a path to maximising the economic, social, and environmental benefits of tourism over the next decade. This ensures that Government policies relating to fiscal incentives, and support for enterprise and access, are appropriate for the development of a competitive, sustainable tourism sector. Mr. Kearney’s reference to the number of bednights recorded between 1999 and 2014, as a measure of the sector, takes no heed of the economic crisis we have just weathered, the diversification within the sector (bednights by business visitors are up 28% since 2009) or the tendency for visitors to take shorter breaks. The tourism sector, bolstered by the right policies implemented by Government, has delivered exceptional results in recent years.

Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, Paschal Donohoe, TD,