Tourism in Ireland must become more of an all-year-round business, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid, has said. Dr McDaid said the Republic had a "heavily peaked tourism industry" and the key priority for the future was to spread business over a longer period.

"In this regard sporting activities offer tremendous scope for long season or even year round business," he stated.

He was speaking at the Forum 2000 business seminar held in Dublin.

Mr McDaid said another priority should be for a better regional spread of tourism business. He said research showed the rate of tourism growth in the eastern half of the country was twice that found in the west.

"This concerns me, because it is in the west that tourism is the main industry," he said. He has asked Bord Failte to come up with initiatives geared towards getting a regional spread of tourism growth.

He said there are several problems which might slow down tourism growth. One was the "hard work, poor pay and unsociable hours" found in the hotel sector. Dr McDaid said this had discouraged many young people from working in the area, but was now being seriously addressed.