Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister on behalf of the music sector in west County Cork, the live venues, sound engineers and everybody else who breathed a sigh of relief at the announcement of the extension of the live performance support scheme, LPSS. It is hugely welcome. I watched some of the productions before Christmas as part of the pilot scheme. I think the Minister will agree they were absolutely phenomenal and there is huge gratitude that there has been that significant investment in the continuation of the scheme.

I want to spend my time on tourism and the hospitality sector. There is a need for a solid, clear plan for how we will deal with the months and years ahead. As the Minister knows, businesses crave certainty and that is exactly the same for those involved in hospitality. They crave certainty in order to have security and be able to think about their future. For that reason, such businesses need clear direction and a clear path ahead. I do appreciate how difficult that is in Covid times when we are not 100% sure about the future of this pandemic but the more certainty we can provide for them, the more sure we can be there will still be a hospitality sector when we come out of this. The sector is losing skills and losing staff to other sectors because of that uncertainty. Whether we are talking about a hotel, a restaurant or whatever other business, they are not sure whether they will still be in existence by this time next year so I would like a comment on that. I acknowledge the Minister mentioned the national tourism policy in her opening statement. We just need some clarity and businesses in the hospitality sector will be so grateful for that.

I have some specific questions and apologise if they have already been asked. Will we see the 9% VAT rate extended to 2025?

The Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, has been the lifeblood of so many in the hospitality sector. Will we see an extension of it and will we see an increase because it is exactly what the sector is calling for? Will we see an extension of the EWSS until the end of the year, at the very least?

I ask the Minister to comment on the stay-and-spend scheme. Can we acknowledge that it has not been a success? I have suggested before in the committee that we should look at a national voucher scheme whereby families and the Irish population can spend money within the local economy in order that we can see money going back into the economy, as opposed to a tax relief scheme of which, let us face it, people are less likely to avail.

Are there plans to have members of the restaurant sector and representatives of pubs that do not serve food on the tourism task force? It is a very important question because I believe they are not represented at the moment and it is important that their views are known.

I know there are a lot of questions but my final point is on the small business assistance scheme. The €50,000 limit on turnover is freezing out a lot of smaller businesses and I would love to see that limit drop. I think the Minister has about a minute left to address some of those points. The main one I would like her to address is the point about certainty, clarity, direction and a path going forward.