Departmental Strategies
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

Critically, as the Deputy pointed out, the Louth strategy for tourism up to 2031 has key performance indicators, KPIs, to measure exactly the performance and ensure our objectives are realised. I took the view in our tourism plan that if it cannot be measured, it cannot be managed. That is why we have 71 objectives with clear KPIs attached to each. That is why Tourism Ireland has approximately €71 million for 2026 for marketing, and the culinary industry is key to that. We will develop our culinary strategy over this year. It will have a job of work in advancing the proposition that so many of our businesses have.
As the Deputy rightly pointed out, there is a vineyard in Louth. There are oysters. There is an incredible offering from the distillery. There are so many attractions to bring people to County Louth. It will be front and centre and will absorb huge resources. We will put in €400 million over the next five years. The culinary industry is unique, genuine and authentic food production that will put us in a good space to attract visitors.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-16