Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Brennan Excerpts
Wednesday 10th July 2013

(11 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Theresa Villiers Portrait Mrs Villiers
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The G8 was tremendously successful. We have had some rather grim matters to discuss this morning in the House, but we should not forget that the world saw a positive picture of a scenically beautiful Northern Ireland that is open for business. The next opportunity to capitalise on it is an investment conference in October, which the Prime Minister will attend.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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I recently met the head of Tourism Ireland, who told me about the great success of the new Titanic museum in Belfast. Does the Secretary of State agree that this shows that marketing Ireland as a whole can help to rebalance and benefit the Northern Ireland economy?

Theresa Villiers Portrait Mrs Villiers
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There are some advantages to that. We are looking at ways to encourage visitors to the Republic of Ireland to extend their stay to visit Northern Ireland. That is why our economic package contains proposals for a visa waiver pilot to enable those from certain countries with an Irish visa to travel to the UK.