THE danger of saturating some areas with tourists and destroying the environment was raised by Mr Bobby Molloy (PD, Galway West). During questions to the Minister for Tourism and Trade he said on some days last summer there were 5,000 visitors to Inishmore. The island's sensitive infrastructure was incapable of handling those numbers. He asked what steps were being taken to ensure that its attractiveness was not destroyed over time.
Mr Eoin Ryan (FF, Dublin South East) urged the Minister to undertake a study of the long term implications of tourism.
The Minister, Mr Kenny, said following record growth in tourism recent years overseas numbers to Ireland in 1995 amounted to 4.25 million. "Taking into account regional and seasonal spread and local population densities, this would not be seen as constituting mass tourism by international standards. Nevertheless, in view of the experience of other tourism destinations, understandable concerns have been expressed about the negative effect that tourism growth can have on the environment."