Tourism Industry
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

We will do our very best to ensure the sector keeps growing. I am aware that overseas visitors are critical for regional locations. That is why we are looking at growing our value proposition. Remember that some of the viability mechanisms have not started yet; they will not kick in until 1 July. They are coupled with reform of our capital schemes, and I have taken the view within the Department that what you cannot measure, you cannot manage.
We have targets in Fáilte Ireland relating to growth on a month-by-month basis and strict KPIs to build up support for SMEs. There will be significant support across 2026 and we will continue that. We have about €400 million in our capital plan for the next five years to support the tourism sector.
That is a very significant increase on the previous one. We also have a very strong budget working with our strategic air activation scheme. We are putting boots on the ground where we have new flights because we need resources to market them and to get the awareness of flights and to get them to take hold. There is a lot of work to do over 2026. I look forward to working with the Deputy to ensure the kingdom does benefit from that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28