Speech
Speech by Minister Catherine Martin on the Shared Island Initiative
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
Go raibh maith agat, a Fhionn agus Dia daoibh, a chathaoirligh agus a dhaoine uaisle. Tá an-áthas orm an deis a fháil labhairt libh inniu agus ionadaíocht a dhéanamh thar ceann an Rialtais sa phlé ar ‘thurasóireacht ar an oileán comhroinnte.
The Government’s Shared Island initiative is about being more ambitious for what we achieve through the framework of the Good Friday Agreement; and engaging with all communities and traditions on how we can better take up the opportunities of our shared future on this island.
The importance of tourism to the economy on both sides of the border and the clear logic of taking a joint approach to the promotion and development of the sector, led to tourism being one of the areas chosen for formal North South cooperation, through the structures created by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
As Minister with responsibility for Tourism, I have worked with my counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive through the North South Ministerial Council to advance this productive cooperation. This builds on the excellent work done by our predecessors since the NSMC was established in 1999.
That cooperation has been hugely beneficial, with the Tourism sector now a shining example of what can be achieved when we work together on this island, with a shared purpose and for clear mutual benefit.
Through Tourism Ireland, we have developed a hugely successful approach to promoting our collective tourism offering to markets all around the world, which sustains and creates jobs in the sector in towns, cities and regions across both jurisdictions on the island.
So much so, that Ireland now ranks third in the world for ‘effectiveness of marketing and branding to attract tourists’ and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw record levels of visitors coming to the island.
In 2019, over 11 million tourists visited the island, contributing more than €5.8 billion to both economies and supporting 325,000 jobs.
The Common Travel Area has been and will continue to be, fundamental to enabling seamless travel on the island and the British Irish Visa Scheme is an example of how cooperation between the two jurisdictions has increased tourism to our island.
The Taste the Island initiative, developed jointly by Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and Tourism Ireland in 2019, significantly enhanced our island’s reputation for food and drink experiences and also served to intensify efforts to ensure Irish food and drink featured more prominently in our collective marketing and sales efforts.
Last year, the Cooperation with Northern Ireland Scheme funded several cross-border cultural projects which sought to enhance, celebrate or commemorate the artistic, cultural, musical and film heritage of the whole island.
The North West Strategic Growth Partnership continues to do valuable work in supporting regional cooperation on tourism, as do other local authorities on a cross-border basis.
The PEACE PLUS programme funded by the EU, the UK Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish Government, will also provide significant support for the development of sustainable tourism on an all-island basis over the next seven years.
These examples of cooperation and collaboration serve to illustrate that we are stronger together and that promoting the entire island gives us a better overall tourism product and makes us a more attractive destination.
The sector has faced extremely difficult times over the past two years as the pandemic brought international travel to a near standstill overnight and remains a significant disrupter to travel and tourism globally.
The Tourism Recovery Steering Group in Northern Ireland and the Tourism Recovery Taskforce in the South, have both produced Recovery Plans for the survival and subsequent recovery of the industry. Officials in my Department liaise regularly with their counterparts in the Department for the Economy as regards the implementation of these recovery plans and to ensure as much alignment as possible.
The restrictions on international travel have resulted in an increase in domestic tourism with more people holidaying at home. Growing this more local and sustainable tourism right across the island, is clearly an important opportunity for the years ahead.
A recent Shared Island report on cross-border trade in services by the ESRI estimated that while there already are over 2 million cross-border trips on the island each year, the majority of these are in one direction - from Northern Ireland to the Republic. That’s not something we always appreciate, and it sheds light on the opportunity there is to grow the flow in both directions, to create thriving on-island, cross-border tourism for the benefit of the entire island.
Through the Shared Island Fund, the Government is already investing in the development of sustainable tourism infrastructure on the island. We have made investments in the cross-border Ulster Canal and Narrow Water Bridge projects - providing blueways and greenways that will grow sustainable tourism in the central and east border regions.
That’s why under the revised National Development Plan, the Government committed to creating an island-wide greenway network that will link the Atlantic coast with the Eastern seaboard.
And, we will work with the Northern Ireland Executive on linking up the Wild Atlantic Way with the Causeway Coastal Route, and continuing on to create a coastal tourist trail along our eastern and southern coasts.
As we rebuild our tourism sector, we must be mindful that future tourism growth must be sustainable, as well as being consistent with our sectoral climate change targets and commitments, while at the same time having regard to the vital role that tourism plays in supporting sustainable jobs and livelihoods. And in that regard, the Sustainable Tourism Interim Action Plan published by my Department last year, will underpin much of our tourism policy development over the next number of years.
Examples of actions that our tourism agencies have prioritised, include the development of carbon calculators which will enable tourists and tourism businesses to evaluate the impact of their carbon footprint on the environment, supports to help the industry to implement sustainability best-practices and tailoring marketing programmes to focus on sustainable tourism product.
As we all know, travel broadens the mind. It deepens our understanding of people, place, cultures and traditions, whether north, south, east or west, in a unique way that can have lasting impact.
Today’s Dialogue is an opportunity to look at the successes we have achieved over the last two decades and at how we can now build further on that. I am looking forward to hear your opinions as what enhancements we can put in place to enable further cooperation and growth in tourism.
Both my Department and the Taoiseach’s Department will be listening carefully to the full discussion today, and it will inform how the Government progresses our Shared Island initiative in the period ahead.
As a proud Monaghan woman, I have seen first-hand how communities have benefited from all-island cooperation.
Tá a fhios agam gur féidir linn níos mó a bhaint amach le chéile. Táim ag súil lena bheith ag obair libhse go léir chun barr ár gcumais a bhaint amach.
Go raibh maith agaibh.