Mr. Paul Kelly:

I thank the Senator for his kind words about the Hidden Heartlands. It is surpassing expectations. The businesses in the Hidden Heartlands had a disproportionately good summer and that Make a Break campaign worked particularly well for the area. Businesses along the Shannon corridor, in particular, did very well for the period of time they were allowed to be open.

I am delighted to say that we will be finishing the destination town work in Longford town next year. It will link up along the canal greenway which will further enhance that part of the world.

The Senator asked if we have enough money. I would say, first and foremost, that the priority needs to be on business survival. Of course, we could always spend more money but the priority would be to get as much money as possible to businesses to enable them to survive so they can be there to re-employ people and take advantage of tourism when it can come back, which it will.

We have regular meetings with all the sectors of industry, and there are people in the Hidden Heartlands who are facing challenges. For example, those providing boat rental services are not included the scope of the CRSS, and that presents a real challenge to all those operating cruise businesses along the Shannon. Those working in car rental and as inbound tour operators also fall outside of the scope of the CRSS. Indeed, because of the way the scheme is set up, there are a number of sectors, which are not currently supported, other than through the wage subsidy scheme, and will need further support. Boat rental is excluded from the reduction in VAT rate to 9% for historical reasons. It is important that reduction is maintained into the future, to enable us to be competitive in a recovery, but if at all possible, it should be extended to include some sectors that are currently excluded, such as boat and car rental.