The Minister is very welcome. As he probably knows, I have been the chairperson of Longford Tourism for 12 or 13 years. When I started, County Longford probably had the lowest visitor figures in the country. We grasped that negative and we worked with the local authority and stakeholders to build the tourism product in our county. Last Christmas, we launched a new tourism network to drive the future of tourism in Longford. Our statement at the launch noted the following: Longford’s rich and often untold story forms the backbone of this vision, from ancient archaeological sites dating back to before the Egyptian pyramids, to revolutionary history, Celtic mythology, literary heritage and iconic love stories, all set within an unspoilt and undiscovered landscape. That is what we are. We are unspoilt and undiscovered. We have been working very closely with Visit Westmeath where we were picked for one of the seven sites for the Home of Hallowe'en, which was a fantastic first year. We are looking forward to this continuing to be a successful festival. Longford is an unspoilt county. We have fantastic waterways, walkways and forest walks. We pride ourselves on the unspoilt beauty that we have and we want people to see that. On Monday next, the Minister will be at the launch the new visitlongford.ie website, which is being worked on and is funded by the just transition fund. That fund had been transformational for our county by bringing in significant investment on the back of what was a negative story. The roles of the activation officers who were appointed to the various counties in the just transition area will finish at the end of this year. I ask that they continue for the just transition areas, which have suffered economically as a result of the shutdown of the power plants and the reduction in peat production. We should continue those roles. We need them because we have grown the product and the businesses in our region and we need that support for those businesses to make sure they are maintained in future. I compliment our tourism officer, Denise Canavan, who is doing fantastic work since she took over the role, increasing the numbers of people, improving the product and working with all the communities in our county. The Minister of State knows Longford very well, from the Maria Edgeworth Centre in Edgeworthstown and the Knights and Conquests Heritage Centre in Granard. I look forward to seeing the sod turned on the Norman heritage village on that site in 2026. We have the fantastic Corlea trackway and its unspoiled beauty. It is undiscovered. That is the word I used earlier. I want to see further investment in that site. It goes back to 3,000 BC. It needs more investment to make sure more people come to see it. I ask that it be prioritised and we see significant investment in that project. The Royal Canal project started in Longford, with the length from Cloondara out to the main line, and back into Longford town. It cost €300,000. In conjunction with Longford County Council, a group of seven of us on the committee secured LEADER funding and started that project with an 18 km section. We worked with other local authorities in counties Westmeath, Meath, Kildare and Dublin and shortly that project will now come in as far as Spencer Dock. People will be able to walk from Spencer Dock here in Dublin all the way down to the Shannon in Cloondara, and ultimately link up across the bogs into the west of Ireland out to Strokestown Park House. It is a fantastic project. The State has made significant investment in it and it is important to acknowledge the huge amount of funding that has been provided to make it a fantastic project. It will bring a further increase in tourism into our county. I ask that the Government take away those issues. We are working hard on the ground with industry. We have all the stakeholders together. We just need support. We were delivering product through the just transition fund. I ask that support from that fund be continued, particularly through the tourism activator roles. Colm Croffey has had that role in Longford but they are in place throughout the region. We did not have support for a long number of years until the Hidden Heartlands brand was launched some years ago by people in the region, including me. The counties wanted their own brand. We were not on the Wild Atlantic Way or in Ireland's Ancient East. We have a unique beauty in the midlands and we want to make sure we get that support. Through the just transition fund, we have funding but we need continued support to make sure we can drive the tourism product, working with everybody involved, including local authorities, stakeholders, people in the business and the tourism committees and tourism officers throughout the region.

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