Some £150,000 will be made available to promote tourism in Co Louth in an attempt to ease the impact of the foot-and-mouth outbreak on the Cooley peninsula. The money has been guaranteed by the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid, to support a tourism action plan.
This follows a report by the inter-departmental task force on foot-and-mouth in Co Louth, which was presented to the Government yesterday.
Ms Deirdre Ryan, executive director of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, said however that this figure "would need to be supplemented by other tourism and marketing initiatives suggested in the report".
She said the recommendations were to be "broadly welcomed" and many local concerns had been taken into consideration. However, any tourism campaign would need to include the retail sector, which had been badly affected. "A survey of our members reported losses of between 20 and 40 per cent since the outbreak at Meigh (Co Armagh)."
Ms Ryan welcomed the recommendation that a committee be established to monitor implementation of the recommendations. The report was presented to the Government by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern.
Established in late March, the task force was chaired by a senior official in Mr Ahern's Department. Its report concludes existing social welfare measures are adequate to support people in Co Louth affected by the crisis.