KENNY SPEAKS IN DAIL ON TOURISM AUTHORITY AND HOWTH HARBOUR

Posted on September 22, 2011 4:48 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Dublin North East Labour Party TD, Sean Kenny, spoke in the Dáil on Thursday in support of the National Tourism Development Bill. In his speech Deputy Kenny outlined the purpose of the legislation and suggest ways that Howth Harbour could benefit.

"The primary purpose of the Bill is to provide the statutory basis to allow the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, to increase the aggregate level of advances that may be made to the National Tourism Development Authority (Fáilte Ireland), out of the capital moneys provided by the Oireachtas, for the purpose of supporting enterprises and projects relating to the development of tourist traffic and the development of tourist facilities and services."

"Section 1 amends section 24(2) of the National Tourism Development Authority Act 2003 to provide that the aggregate level of advances that may be made to the Authority, out of the capital moneys provided by the Oireachtas, for the purpose of supporting enterprises and projects relating to the development of tourist traffic and the development of tourist facilities and services is increased from €65,000,000 to €150,000,000. Section 2 contains standard provisions regarding: short title; collective citation and construction with the Tourist Traffic Acts 1939 to 2003."

"It is in this context that I wish to raise the issue of Howth Tourism, which is a group of businesses in the retail and hospitality sector in Howth who co-operate together to promote Howth as a destination to visitors from both Ireland and overseas. Under their own funding they have printed up hundreds of thousands of maps for visitors that highlights all Howth has to offer, have developed a website, and organised events and festivals to promote Howth as a destination."

"The vision that Howth Tourism have is not only that almost 500 jobs are sustained by the various retail and hospitality businesses in Howth, but that Howth looks to the future to when Howth can be grown to be a destination for culinary tourists, tourists in search of outdoor pursuits and also a destination for retail business."

"Howth Tourism believe, and I would tend to agree with them, that there is a growing Marine Leisure industry as witnessed at events such as the Volvo Ocean Race and the Tall Ships race and I would like to see Howth capitalise on this. The Burke McIver report into the Harbour Fisheries Centres which was published in 2009 states that there is huge opportunity to develop Marine Leisure and it specifically mentions Howth in this context."

"Howth Tourism is working closely with Failte Ireland to develop Howth's Tourism Strategy and we have been selected to lead the "Dublin Coastal Villages" project. Fáilte Ireland has also been looking at the Marine Leisure tourism business and I believe they will have a new report out later this month highlighting its importance."

"However, one major obstacle remains and that obstacle is that Howth Harbour is under the management of the Marine division of the Department of Transport. I have learned that Harbour Master at Howth has no Tourism remit, and it is under no obligation to host events, activities or promotions in the Harbour Area. Obviously, the Harbour is integral to the visitor experience to Howth, because of its geography and the space available."
"While I completely understand that the Harbour is a working area and that this must be the primary consideration when considering tourism at Howth Harbour, it is also the case that the working nature of Howth Harbour impedes the development of Tourism activities. It is not realistic that activities take place in various peripheral locations. We need to utilise the major attraction, which is of course the Harbour, and find a way in which tourism activities may be increased at the Harbour while not interfering with the work that goes on there."
"Perhaps any increases of funds that may be made could be used to enable the National Tourism Development Authority (i.e., Fáilte Ireland) to work more closely with the Marine Division of the Department of Transport to provide a Tourism function at Howth Harbour, in the interests of increasing the potential for tourism there. The issue of tourism at Howth Harbour strikes me as an excellent example of how this Bill could be of benefit in increasing tourism. I intend to pursue this issue with the relevant Government departments to see if anything can be done to improve the situation here."