Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and witnesses.

Tourism is one of the largest indigenous employers in Ireland and has been one of the worst hit in this pandemic. While I congratulate Deputy Catherine Martin on her appointment to this Ministry, it was a glaring mistake by this Fianna Fáil-led Government that it did not take the advice from me and my Independent colleagues to appoint a stand-alone Minister with responsibility for tourism.

For a number of years, I have been asking for a lowering of the VAT rate. Since Covid-19 hit, one of my first requests to the then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, two months ago was for a 0% VAT rate. I am delighted that since this request, many of my Fianna Fáil colleagues have called for this 0% VAT rate too. I am hopeful that now they are in government, they will deliver on this measure.

Will Mr. Kelly elaborate on the three aid scheme packages that were submitted to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport a number of weeks ago? Mr. Kelly referenced the schemes in his opening statement. He said that Fáilte Ireland's response has been informed by extensive research, that it has had over 5,000 direct industry engagements and has spoken to 21,000 domestic holidaymakers. He went on to state that it has developed two separate grant proposal schemes, one to help cover costs incurred while closed, and another to help businesses meet the costs of adapting their premises to operate safely. He then stated that it also developed and submitted a proposal on tourism-specific working capital loans to help get much-needed liquidity into the sector. Will Mr. Kelly elaborate, if he does not mind?

I have a couple of other questions on tourism which perhaps will all fit into each other. Bed and breakfast accommodation and other small businesses, including tour guides and tradespeople who do not pay rates, cannot apply for the new funding scheme to help with reopening costs. Bed and Breakfast Ireland is an organisation that represents 760,000 members across the country. It states that two thirds of its members have not been able to avail of the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment because they are aged 66 or over. It believes a grant of up to €3,000 should be made available to the bed and breakfast accommodation sector to cover expenses incurred with reopening safely. Is this a possibility? Is there any chance of this happening? Mr.Kelly may be able to answer.

There are many questions to which those in the bed and breakfast accommodation sector cannot get answers. I have spoken to many of them in recent weeks and would appreciate it were Mr. Kelly to answer these two important questions. Can bed and breakfast accommodation operators be sued if someone contracts Covid-19 when staying in a guest house? Once a guest leaves a guest house, how soon can that room be reopened to a new guest? These questions are of the utmost importance to the bed and breakfast accommodation sector and may well be the difference between them reopening in west Cork and the rest of Ireland or not.

There is still much confusion among hotels and venues as to how many people can attend a wedding or function. Is the size of the hotel taken into consideration? Does Mr. Kelly think this could be made clearer to the hotel?