THE Government has been asked to consider charging an admission fee to attractions such as the National Gallery and the National Museum in Dublin.
Mr Cartan Finnegan, managing director of Heritage Island, a private sector organisation which promotes visitor attractions all over Ireland, said it had to charge admission fees to stay viable while it competed with institutions funded by the taxpayer.
Mr Finnegan was speaking yesterday at a conference in Dublin on the latest survey to rank visitor attractions in Ireland.
He said the debate had not yet opened on the competition between free visitor attractions funded by the Government and the local authority and private sector attractions which charge admission.
With the National Museum being expanded with an in vestment of £25 million and the National Gallery with £15 million, both will be competing with other attractions "that have the imperative of more visitors to remain viable".
Mr Finnegan said there is evidence in Britain, France and Italy that visitors are willing to pay to visit national attractions, thereby relieving pressure on the taxpayers.
Mr Finnegan said it was inevitable the IRA bombs in London would have some effect among intending British holidaymakers. Heritage Island has been wooing British coach operators who never included Ireland in their programmes.
Mr Finnegan said he met these operators after the Canary Wharf bombing and had been assured they would run their Irish programmes in 1996.
There are now 259 fee paying visitor attractions in the Republic, according to a new survey by the Dublin based consultants, Tourism Development International. The revenue generated by them in 1995 is estimated to have been about £42.7 million.
Trinity College and the Book of Kells are top of the fee paying attractions, with more than 402,000 visitors, followed by Dublin Zoo, Bunratty Castle, Blarney Castle and Waterford Crystal.
Of the new attractions which have opened since 1990, Kerry the Kingdom has carved out the biggest niche, with more than 103,000 visitors, followed by the Jameson Heritage Centre and Cobh Queenstown.
The survey showed that more than half of the visits to attractions in Northern Ireland are made by local residents. One sixth of visitors originated in Britain, while 12 per cent came from the Republic.
The Mayo county manager, Mr Des Mahon, told the conference that Knock Shrine is the single biggest visitor attraction in Ireland, with an estimated 1.5 million visitors each year.