I want to come back to the Deputy with evidence and factual data. For every company that goes into liquidation in the economy now, ten more are created. We are at an all-time low in terms of insolvency levels. The CSO data, which is the gold standard of collecting evidence in this economy, backs that up. The Deputy should have a look at the December outturn and the summary of our economic position. All 13 sectors of the economy are growing. We are at a record level of employment. Some 2.82 million people are going …

I thank Deputy Lawlor for this important question. While I acknowledge his observations on revenue, the CSO statistics indicate a more optimistic picture for 2025. Overall tourism revenue in 2025 remained strong, albeit at a slightly lower level than the exceptional high levels reached in 2024 but on par with 2023. Encouragingly, the latest CSO data show a return to growth in overseas visitor numbers and expenditure towards the end of the year. The CSO reports that in November 2025, overseas visitors spent €347 mil…

The Deputy is quite right in relation to the CSO earlier in the year. I was making the point that it has recovered significantly over the past four months. We took immediate action. We brought forward a plan that will grow the sector significantly over the next five years. I will work on extending the season because 50% of visitors come from June to September. We are trying to bring it from St. Brigid's Day out to Halloween which will be a significant asset. We are also looking at an all-Ireland culinary strategy w…

It is a very important destination for us. We have 21 gateway hubs with the US now. We are keen on expanding them. I was in Savannah and Atlanta for a St. Patrick’s Day mission a couple of years ago. Delta raised with me that it wanted to put new routes into Ireland but the cap at that point precluded it from doing so. We need to resolve the airport cap this year - that will be critically important - and grow those routes. I have specifically raised the strategic air activation scheme with Tourism Ireland which cou…

Enhancing cross-Border co-operation and connections is a key ambition of this Government, and the tourism plan is an important asset towards achieving this goal. Tourism Ireland is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination, and it works closely with colleagues in Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland. In addition to a commitment to work with Fáilte Ireland to develop a balanced regional spread of tourism throughout the country, further advancing the experience b…

We are doing exactly that. We are harnessing the close co-operation with Northern Ireland. I am working very closely with the Minister, Dr. Archibald, whom I have met on a number of occasions, and we are promoting the country as an island internationally while abroad at trade missions. Fermanagh has been included in Ireland's Hidden Heartlands. As for the Causeway Coastal Route, collaboration is taking place as we speak to have a joint project that attracts visitors across the island. As I pointed out, we are harne…

I assure the Deputy that any time I am marketing Ireland as a tourism product, it is the island of Ireland. We can see this in the infrastructural projects that reach into other sectors outside my Department. Through the shared island economic brand, it is very important to tackle the key infrastructural deficits we have on the island. We are being honest that they are there and very visible. We have a huge amount of work to do. From my perspective, I want to develop the brand and work on the infrastructural projec…

I thank the Deputy for his very important question. In December, I launched the Government's new national tourism policy statement, A New Era for Irish Tourism. This sets out our clear vision to 2031 to have balanced product development. Since the move of tourism into my Department, I have reflected that SMEs are at the heart of the Department of enterprise. There are over 46,000 of them. We published the Department’s sectoral plan last week. We have €4.7 billion over the next five years, and €400 million is earmar…

Again, I acknowledge the work Fáilte Ireland is doing on the coastal path, the 11 stops I mentioned and the others that are planned. Fáilte Ireland is a named partner in the Dublin Bay UNESCO Biosphere, the purpose of which is to ensure that tourism growth is aligned with sustainability and environmental stewardship. Fáilte Ireland continues to invest in seasonal events, such as the New Year's Festival, which is held in Howth, and the Home of Hallowe'en hub in Fingal, which drive off-season tourism and provide dire…

I am happy to work with Deputies Heneghan and Ó Muirí in their constituency, particularly as this is a very important project. We will be working on a number of projects in the context of our destination and experience development plan, which will chart the development of the area, over the coming months and years. It is important that this work links with that of our State agencies and local authorities. There are exciting opportunities in the tourism sector, and I relish the opportunity of working on them in the …

I thank Deputy Fleming for his very important question on the midlands. Regional development is a key focus of our programme for Government and is central to the work the Department and our enterprise agencies. The region, comprising counties Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath, is home to 51 IDA Ireland companies that employ 7,501 people. Foreign direct investment performance has been consistent over the six years requested by the Deputy, 2020 to 2025, with IDA Ireland-supported jobs increasing by 1,027, or 16%,…

I acknowledge the concern raised by Deputy Fleming in connection with Laois. I was on the ground there with Deputies Fleming and Aird recently and looked at where we have an advanced planning permit in Portlaoise and lands surrounding it, as well as being there on the occasion when Midland Steel announced 70 jobs, which are very important for the area. We have seen 11% growth in Enterprise Ireland from 2020 to 2024, which equals about 260 jobs supported by the agency. We have to do better and I fully acknowledge th…

I take on board Deputy Fleming's comments. I will work with the IDA on attracting foreign direct investment into the region. We have increased our regional target, which is very important, to get as many jobs as we can. We are working through our capital programme, in which we have about €500 million for regional buildings, to put the infrastructure in place around them and ensure they are in the best position to attract investment. Visitor numbers are up in the midlands but I will add a note of caution. We are ope…

I thank Deputy Cahill for his very important question. In line with the programme for Government, I was pleased to launch the Government's new national - I have the wrong one there. My apologies. I think I have the wrong question, if you could just give me a second. I do not see it here. Anyway, I will manage. In relation to our short-term lets, there is obviously a commitment in the programme for Government about managing our short-term lets. We know the sector has grown by about 10% per annum over the last number…

It is not our intention to put anyone out of existence. I want to be clear that I am very keen on trying to develop our tourism sector. We now have a very robust plan, based on evidence, that will put key KPIs into our State agencies to ensure we are seeing 7% growth per annum in our sector. That will be very important. Obviously, County Kerry will be key in delivering that growth. My primary role is to devise the legislation coming forward to designate Fáilte Ireland as the competent authority. Obviously, the Mini…

I again thank the Deputy for his comments. I do not want to see any unintended consequences coming from this action. The core point is that when you have a sector that is growing at 10% per annum in terms of numbers, without any Government intervention, we need to ensure there is regulation here in some regard. It is about getting the correct policy to ensure we are getting the data from the people who are staying in these short-term lets as we do not know anything about many of them so we cannot craft tourism poli…

I thank Deputy Murphy for his important question. IDA's strategy to drive balanced regional development is a priority, as set out in the programme for Government, and is a key focus of the work of my Department and its agencies. IDA Ireland is continuing its strong commitment to regional development as one of our four key strategic objectives in the 2025-29 strategy, Adapt Intelligently. This ambitious strategy aims to secure 550 foreign direct investment, FDI, projects outside of Dublin, accounting for 55% of the …

I thank Deputy Murphy again for his proactive approach when we were on site in Clonmel. The ecosystem that exists there will put us in a very strong position together with the partnerships the Deputy has worked with, including Tipperary County Council, to really ensure that we have the development of water and the development of grid capacity on site. Having a utility-rich site like that puts us in a strong position. We will ensure the IDA gives its full attention to try to get a strong client into it. On the Deput…

As the Deputy rightly outlined, the location is hugely attractive, particularly in relation to utilities, which are at a premium. The local authority has been proactive in this regard in looking ahead in developing connectivity, which is critical for the key infrastructural components that deliver high-quality jobs. We will work closely with the Deputy and the IDA to ensure we get a good client in this location and build on the existing clients. It is a very exciting ecosystem, particularly for life sciences. We wi…

I thank the Deputy for this very important question. My thoughts are with all those affected by the receivership and all of their families because I know it is a very difficult and uncertain time. I also know the news can be very distressing for all of those involved. Receivership is a long-standing legal mechanism for the enforcement of a security. Usually in Ireland, a receiver is an individual appointed by a lender, such as a bank, to take control of a company's or an individual's assets that were used as securi…