Heritage Sites Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-22 ============================================================ Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central I welcome the students - céad míle fáilte - and thank them for being here. I thank the teachers for being here as well. I hope they enjoy the homework off. The students should get homework off tomorrow night because they are probably not in school to get homework today. Let us give them tomorrow night off as well. We need to think differently about tourism in the world we live in, with the threats happening geopolitically. We must look at homegrown tourism and the shoulder season. I give the Senator a commitment that I will bring her comments back. The OPW will continue to monitor patterns closely and respond appropriately to demand. It has demonstrated its commitment to supporting local economic activity through initiatives in Sligo and across the wider heritage estate: extended opening periods, enhanced programming and strong stakeholder collaboration. I thank Sligo County Council for its collaboration on parking and accessibility, along with Fáilte Ireland and local stakeholders, to improve access and the visitor experience in a manner that is sustainable, responsible and fully consistent with the long-term conservation of this important national monument. Conservation and sustainability are two important points. The Senator made a great point about the love knot on St. Valentine's Day. We could nearly all go to Sligo for St. Valentine's Day next year. We have a Kerryman in the audience and he could do with a bit of love after losing the league final to Donegal. It is an important contribution the Senator has made. We are committed to heritage and heritage sites. Those of us who, like the Senator, love history and tourism recognise the importance of what she has said. I will take it back for her. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-22/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-22