Tourist Accommodation
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-26
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Conor D. McGuinness (SF), Waterford

The Minister is right that the attractions are there. The greenways are of really high standard and the greenway in Waterford is a classic example. Unfortunately, the availability of tourist accommodation has not kept pace. On top of that we also see the use of tourist accommodation, and particularly hotels, for the State's responses to the various refugee crisis over the years. The Minister for justice has signalled a move away from that approach in the coming time. There is a concern, however, that many of the hotels that have been used will not return to tourist accommodation. There are examples of that in Dungarvan and in other areas. There has also been no recognition for the economic impact of the loss of tourist accommodation. We have the community recognition fund, for example, and many great things have come from that scheme, but there is no similar scheme to address the enterprise loss or the difficulties that have been experienced because of the loss of tourist accommodation. Perhaps it could be a conversation worth having between the Minister and the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Deputy Peter Burke, to see if a similar scheme 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 for those tourism operators and people operating in that space who have lost business over the last years.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-26