As the Minister will probably know, I used to work in Bord Fáilte and Fáilte Ireland until I made the crazy decision to get into politics. I am sure all Members wish I had not. I used to be a manager. I created the national tourism database. I am very proud of that because it distributes all the information to this day for everything we do in tourism. A colleague of mine, a fellow Tipperary man who was my manager, had a saying about tourism: "We cannot forget the hole in the doughnut." The issue is that a large number of people who come into this country go around the outskirts of Ireland. If, however, we consider the quality of the offering and, from a price comparison point of view, of what is also available for tourists down the spine of Ireland, there is a golden opportunity for us, particularly with Deputy Burke as Minister and, dare I say, with the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, beside him. From Cavan all the way down to the Cork-Kerry border, it as an oval shape that is the hole in the doughnut. That is where we need to concentrate capital and current investment. A number of years ago, when we had very little money, we launched the Lough Derg plan, a roadmap for experience development and destination marketing. Where I am from, along Lough Derg, which touches County Clare, north Tipperary and south Galway and the Shannon basin, is a hidden secret. People come into Killaloe now that we have the new bridge, which I hold my hands up as being responsible for. Access is incredible. They come along the lake. Some of them have never heard of the greatest place on earth, Garrykennedy, which is unbelievably popular once people get there, or they go to Terryglass, Dromineer, Ballycommon, Ballina or wherever else. I use that as an example of how we, as a country, need to extend our tourism season and our tourism product generally. Tourism can be defined by three As and an E: accommodation, attractions, activities and events. I urge the Minister, from a capital and current point of view, to put together a programme for - he does not have to call it this - the hole in the doughnut in this country when it comes to tourism. It is incredibly important that he does so, and it would be a testament and a legacy for him if he were to do so. In the Nenagh and north Tipperary area, we are very proud of Shane MacGowan. There is a trail called Unravelling Shane MacGowan, which has been set up and supported by Siobhan, his sister, and Tipperary County Council, particularly Rosemary Joyce, with a huge number of people coming on the tour. There is the old family cottage, which we would love to get into some form of local authority or national ownership. I ask the Minister sometime he is passing down through the middle of Ireland - obviously, Nenagh is very central - to meet with the family there to discuss same. It would not involve a massive outlay but I wanted to take this opportunity to ask the Minister about that. Finally, when it comes to the events side of the three As and the E, festivals are critical. The Minister is aware of the issue with tickets.ie. In fairness, he took a call from me last week about this. As regards the large-scale festival we have had in Thurles for the past number of years, Liberty Music Festival, now that tickets.ie has basically gone wallop, Councillor Jim Ryan in Thurles and others are having to find about €300,000 to support the festival to go ahead. Campsites and tickets are sold out yet, like a number of other festivals in this country, Liberty Music Festival is being massively affected by this. This is not the fault of the Government; it is a collective Oireachtas and regulatory fault. The idea that tickets.ie or any similar type of organisation can take millions of euro, put the money into its own account, hold it and then go wallop, just from a regulatory point of view, is nuts. It is insane. It is crazy. It should not be allowed to happen. Let us imagine where we would all be left if ticketmaster.ie went wallop in the morning. There are all these small festivals. I ask the Minister to examine this from a regulatory point of view. I commend all those who are supporting the festival to keep it going this year. I do not know where they will get the funding for it or how they will be supported, but if there is any way in which that can happen, it would be great. On the principle of tickets.ie and the regulatory process, we, as a Legislature, need to deal with it.

Sentiment score: 0.24