Andrew Doyle,TD Minister of State for Food, Forestry & Horticulture

Some €1,161,625 in Government funding has been paid to help meet the back to school costs of 3,673 Wicklow families, a Fine Gael TD and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Andrew Doyle has said.

The Back to School allowance is paid to parents to assist them in purchasing uniforms and footwear for the return to school this week. This year, children and parents benefitted form an increase of up to €50 from the scheme.

Minister Doyle said: “I am delighted to announce that 3,673 local families have benefitted from this funding.

“Parents face significant costs at the start of every school year. The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is one of the single most effective ways for the Government to help families with school costs.

“This year some 194,000 children around the country will benefit from an increase to the payment of up to €50.

“Fine Gael is committed to ensuring that the Government offers a helping hand when it’s needed, to ensure everyone gets a fair chance and reaches their full potential.

“By helping parents with back to school costs, providing 2,800 extra teachers and 1,000 extra SNAs in our schools around the country, we will create a Republic of Opportunity and a brighter future for the children of Ireland.”

Fine Gael TD for Wicklow and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Andrew Doyle has welcomed the latest official data on overseas data from the CSO.

“Wicklow has seen an increase in overseas visitor numbers of €62,000 since 2010 this is great news for the county.

“The first seven months of this year have seen over five and a half million visitors to our shores. Overall trips to Ireland were up 3.1% compared to the same period in 2016.

“The tourism sector has played a crucial role in the Irish economic recovery. Measures such as the retention of the 9% VAT rate on tourism services have been significant in helping our tourism sector weather the recession.

“The figures show that the number of North American and European visitors continues to surge ahead, despite a slight drop in numbers from the UK.

“Regionally, the numbers employed in tourism continue to grow with an increase of €3,000 in the Mid –East Region since 2011. These jobs are vital to our economy and communities.

“We have seen a number of great successes in tourism over the last number of years with Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East proving enormously successful.

“The Government has also directed Fáilte Ireland to develop the ‘Ireland’s Lakelands’ brand as a separate proposition. To assist with sustainability of tourist accommodation and small tourism ventures, a support scheme will be introduced for businesses operating along these routes,” said Minister Doyle

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin said: “The figures confirm that 2017 is on target to be another year of growth for Irish tourism.

“I recently met with Tourism Ireland officials in London and explored options to make Ireland even more attractive to the potential UK visitor. The depreciation in Sterling is the major factor involved but economic developments within GB are also having an impact.

“Whilst both Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland are taking steps to assist the industry in this regard, a fundamental factor in continuing to attract British visitors at this stage is value for money. It is therefore important now more than ever that the industry retains its competitiveness.”