Irish Finance Minister understands Tourism

Ireland’s Finance Minister Brian Cowan TD, celebrated St Patrick’s Day early with Sydney tourism industry leaders yesterday in the very appropriate setting of the Old Mint on Sydney’s Macquarie Street.

He reminded the audience that St. Patrick’s Day is a key day in the Irish calendar, when Irish people everywhere get a chance to celebrate what it is to be Irish and that this is especially true in Australia where approximately 35% of the population claims Irish heritage.

Ireland, which incorporates Northern and Southern Ireland now attracts over 8 million visitors every year and Australia is a strong contributor to this, ranked the sixth most important market for Ireland, delivering some 150,000 visitors in 2005.

Australians can now also fly through Bahrain direct to Dublin with Gulf Air, three times a week, between Dublin and Bahrain with excellent connections to Australia and at the end of the month Aer Lingus will commence a direct service from Dublin to Dubai, with excellent connections to major Australian cities.

Minister Cowan soon turned to sport, commenting that later on this year Ireland will be on TV screens all over the planet as the world focuses on golf’s premier event, the Ryder Cup, which Ireland is hosting for the first time.   

Ireland has over 400 quality golf courses the Ryder Cup will have an estimated viewership of over 1 billion people globally, showcasing what the island of Ireland has to offer, not just to golfers but to travellers who are looking to discover their own unique holiday.

Minister Cowan also revealed that while Ireland has not been one of the great cricketing powers but that they do have a small but lively cricket scene which he was happy to say, will be competing for
the first time in the Cricket World cup in the West Indies in 2007.

What was particularly refreshing about The Mole’s discussion with Minister Cowan is that as Minister of Finance he has a very clear understanding of the very significant economic value of tourism to Ireland, which would not have been the case with a number of other Governments – lucky Ireland!

Minister Cowan said, “tourism is a genuine industry in Ireland, taken very seriously by us, as a home grown industry, maximising the natural attributes of the country.”   He added, “it is a significant job and economic generator, which is also a reason why take it seriously and a very significant part of our economy”. 

He added, “it is also important to remember that we now talk of the island of Ireland and it makes sense that that Tourism Ireland promotes one country, the whole of our wonderful country with all its diversity and we welcome Australians to visit us in our ‘new’ Ireland”.

Finance Minister Brian Cowan with Tourism Ireland Manager Monica Nerney

Report by The Mole