Sir, - I hope you will understand my surprise on awakening on the recent Bank Holiday Monday morning to find myself the subject of a third Irish Times Editorial in as many weeks.
Having twice been chastised for not spending enough money on sport, I am now scolded for the proposal to place a £3 levy on visitors entering the country.
The facts are that after 1999 EU support for marketing Ireland as a destination will decrease. As Minister for Tourism I am adamant that the shortfall will not be met by the Irish taxpayer. One option is that the industry itself should do so. Every business from woollens to widgets must pay for its own advertising bill and our mature tourism industry should be no exception. Another option is that the tourist might do so. In fact, I am currently looking at all options.
Your Editorial focused on one proposal among many, all of which I am open to discussing. Curiously, while gliding over the fact that such charges are the European norm, you describe as eccentric the idea that tourists pay a direct charge to market the destination they are visiting. As a general principle, isn't every charge in every business eventually borne by the consumer?
This Government has begun and is committed to continuing the reduction in personal taxation. Public spending will be focused on education, health, reducing crime and targeting social exclusion. Sport is a key component of these strategies. This Government's first Budget doubled spending on sport.
Government is about making political choices and deciding on spending priorities. It is about assisting areas like sport while asking increasingly mature industries like tourism to take more responsibility for their own future. It is not about being all things to all men.
I have always sympathised with the difficult task of writing a serious newspaper on a Bank Holiday Monday but perhaps on this occasion you owed yourself a break. - Yours, etc., (Dr) James McDaid, TD,
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.