National Tourism Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2022-12-06
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Aisling Dolan (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I thank the Minister for being here today, and particularly for mentioning the National Famine Museum in Strokestown Park. It is an amazing facility. Over €3 million in funding has been granted to the museum and the Minister was there at the opening of it. I like the joined-up thinking between Departments. Strokestown has also benefited from Town Centre First investment and the €200 million investment in the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramogue road project, which will bring more visitors to the region and will also take the heavy traffic out of the middle of the town. Christmas markets were on in Strokestown last week and the place was absolutely hopping. It is great to see it.
I want to focus on how we can increase accommodation capacity in these regions. One can travel long distances in many rural areas and there is no access to accommodation capacity for tourists to stay in the region. It is enough to bring them there, but we would like them to stay and to enjoy what we have to offer in the west of Ireland. In Ballinasloe we are very fortunate to have the new investment coming with the Dublin to Galway cycleway. That will bring more visitors to the area, which will be a benefit to our communities. I ask the Minister to comment on how we can maximise the potential that this groundbreaking piece of infrastructure will bring in the next three to five years.
Last Sunday I was invited to go on a battlefield walk in Aughrim, which is a few miles outside Ballinasloe. As we know, the battle of Aughrim was fought in 1691 and changed the history of Ireland and Europe. We need more investment. Currently, the site is owned by Galway County Council. It would be great to look at opportunities for how Fáilte Ireland might support the development that particular site for tourism.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2022-12-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:22+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-12-06