Tourism: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Edward Timmins (FG), Wicklow I want to raise three topics under tourism. The first is short-term lets. Short-term lets provide the only form of tourist accommodation in many parts of rural Ireland. They bring tourists from all over the world to places that would never otherwise receive tourists. I know because I live in a village in rural west Wicklow and have witnessed what these short-term lets bring. These industries were here before the housing shortage and they will be here long after the housing shortage is gone. They supply accommodation where hotels will never be built. They offer a unique and authentic experience to the tourist and show Ireland at its best. We cannot destroy an industry on the basis that it may increase the housing supply by some small amount. I know a poll was carried out across a number of host groups across the country. On average, 93% of hosts cannot or will not release their property to long-term letting. Hosts have no issue with a register. The impact of releasing extra rental accommodation will be negligible but the impact on tourism, people's incomes and rural Ireland is clear. My second point is on the American Presidents trail. Twenty-three US Presidents have Irish heritage, with many coming from Northern Ireland. As the Minister will know, I first floated the idea of an American Presidents trail early last year in this House. I strongly believe this proposal could be a huge positive for a North-South project. It could also be a massive attraction for US visitors, especially those with Irish links and could be comparable to the Wild Atlantic Way. I strongly believe my proposal could be hugely positive for a North-South project and would fit with the whole reason for the shared island fund. It would boost the economy of the island and deliver benefits that we cannot predict. I am pleased that the project has been approved by Cabinet and I want to thank the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, for his great support in this project and ask the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to support it as well. I look forward to the development of the project over the coming years. I also believe that Tourism Ireland and Bord Fáilte should be building this into their tourism strategy. My final point relates to hill forts. Baltinglass, where I hail from, is a small town in west Wicklow. There are nine hill forts in the vicinity of the town and it is described by experts as the hill fort capital of Ireland. This is by far the biggest cluster in the country. Research work and archaeological digs have been carried out and this work was widely reported on national television and radio earlier this year. This has further revealed many other ancient sites and lead-researchers have now described the area and the archaeological capital of Ireland. I bring this to the Minister's attention today and ask for him to support and develop this huge part of our heritage and history and bring it to a wider audience. --- 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/dail/2026-06-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-10