Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was saying something before I was interrupted. I agree that every Member has a mandate, an entitlement and a right to speak on any section of legislation. I am not sure the Senator would follow the rules that she is setting out. Certainly, it is not her place to set rules for others.

The EWSS has been important. I appreciate that it cannot be open-ended and there has to be a finishing point. Yet, I am making an appeal on behalf of the hospitality sector. Large cohorts of our society, including people in their 20s and 30s as well as teens, have not yet received a first dose of the vaccine. They will be unable to participate in indoor hospitality unless they are working in it. I have particular issues around that but that is for a different debate. They will be unable to eat indoors and avail of hospitality until the end of August or coming to September or October.

The hospitality sector is missing out on a significant volume of business during the crucial summer months. The Minister of State will be aware of the position of businesses that operate in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Many businesses in my county of Mayo rely on the tourism season, in particular the months of June, July and August, to make the money to sustain the business throughout the year. By missing out on the crucial months when they get most of the trade, they are down significant revenue for the year. Without the continuing support of the scheme, many businesses would approach the end of the year in a bad financial position. These are the businesses that have been able to reopen and that have survived the past year and a half. All credit goes to those involved. My hat goes off to them because it has been an incredibly difficult year. There is no way they will be able to survive beyond the end of this year without support or until they get to next year's season, which will kick off from March or April onwards. They are going to need extra support to keep those people in employment. This applies in particular in a county such as Mayo where hospitality and tourism are one of our biggest employing sectors if we take away agriculture and some large multinationals. Outside of these, the vast majority of people are employed in tourism and hospitality, including many of our younger people. We have high rates of youth unemployment.

Yesterday, I was in Achill in the earlier part of the day. I was talking to a local business owner who owns a couple of businesses, including a bar and restaurant. It has been incredibly difficult. He is not a hotelier so he has not had the opportunity to have people come and stay. He can look around the island and see all the hotels fully operational, fully booked and serving their customers indoors. He is looking forward to reopening and to having diners inside on 19 July. He made the point that the business has lost a great deal of time when it comes to making up the annual revenue that the business relies upon. He employs local people throughout the year. He impressed upon me the need to maintain the supports into next year and to give advance notice of the extension. We should not leave people waiting until the eleventh hour. I know the Minister of State will not do that. He will want to give people as much notice as possible. Christmas will be the next bump when they might get some additional customers.

All the time at the back of our minds we are concerned about new variants. We see what is happening across other parts of Europe. We look across the water to the UK where we see restrictions being reimposed. There is a clear Government policy. We have managed to do this to date in such a way that we have not closed down anything that we have reopened. That is why we have had a degree of caution and have been a little slower to open than other parts of the country. Having said that, there is a fear that we might regress at some point. I sincerely hope that does not happen.

I listened to a business person earlier on "Morning Ireland". The business name escapes me but he runs a nightclub. He was honest in saying that he does not foresee his nightclub business reopening anytime soon. He even suggested it could be three or four months or perhaps even longer before that happens. He fully acknowledged and was complimentary of the Government for the supports that have been in place for business. He was asked the direct question of whether he would survive the coming months. He said that it depended. Having these supports in place is one of the key provisions that will ensure that business can reopen at some point and the owners will be able to hold on to the staff they have. They need flexibility from their creditors as well. The owner made the point that businesses that remain closed or have only partially reopened still have many overheads that have to be met. They still have to pay rent and utilities and some wages. These overheads have not gone away in the past year and a half. Businesses have been paying these bills with little, if anything, coming through the door.

We acknowledge in this House that there is not an endless pot of money. However, this is an important point where we can give security. Behind all of that, if we take away the business and employment aspects of it, those business owners and their families are under great pressure and stress. It has been a highly stressful year and a half. It is affecting their livelihoods, everything they have worked for and everything they have built up over the years. Some businesses may never reopen, but for those who are surviving we have to do all we can to support them through this difficult period and leave no one behind.

Given that the Minister has set a date for us to revisit this, I would appreciate if the Minister of State could confirm or give us some reassurance that he will give significant notice of the extension period. We do not want to leave people in a state of anxiety when they are approaching what Senator Casey called a cliff edge. That is in essence what it is. People will need advance notice so they can make preparations. They will need time to talk to their credit institutions and those to whom they have to pay overheads so they can plan together to try to ensure the business survives. My thanks to the Minister of State for being in the House today. I look forward to his reply on that point.