Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank our contributors. This committee has spent a number of weeks analysing the pathway into Covid-19, how we handled the nursing homes issue and all of that, and now we are looking at the devastation that has been wrought economically and how to move out of it. Today is probably one of the most telling days of evidence because we have heard about the overall effect on our SME community and people who are privately employed, and the challenges seem to be getting greater and greater. That is not to say that we cannot overcome those challenges but we are going to have to work together.

I have long been an admirer of Mr. Mongey's business and the digital equipment he supplied to the National Ploughing Championships. I know that for Mr. Mongey's business and others like it, much of that sound, lighting and digital equipment is bought on lease purchase. Once a person has engaged in a lease purchase, it is difficult to get any change to that contract without major financial penalties. How is the industry surviving in that respect? I imagine a lot of capital equipment is purchased that way.