Mr. Donall O'Keeffe:

I want to confirm that Noel Anderson is chairman of the Licensed Vintners Association, LVA. The LVA is the representative of body for the publicans of Dublin and, pre Covid, employed 12,000 people and accounted for 30% of the national on-trade market. We appreciate the opportunity to appear in front of the joint committee today and welcome the fact the joint committee recognises the enormous impact of Covid-19 on our sector. We look forward to answering questions later in the session.

There is no doubt that hospitality and tourism have been hit extraordinarily hard by the pandemic, with the Dublin trade in particular experiencing the longest and most severe lockdown in Europe, as evidenced by the following statistics. Traditional wet bars, late bars and nightclubs closed on 15 March 2020 and have not traded for a single day since. As of today, these businesses have been closed for 372 days and, assuming a June or summer reopening, these businesses will have been kept closed for a minimum of 15 months. Pubs that serve food are currently in their third lockdown and in the 372 days since 15 March last, have only traded for 105 days, or 28%, of that time.

We want to talk to the committee about our views on reopening. We understand specific reopening dates cannot be provided at this time. However, we are calling on the Government to publicly communicate the circumstances that must apply to allow the full reopening of the hospitality sector. To our minds, there are four questions, as follows. What percentage of the adult population will need to be vaccinated? What level of community transmission will need to apply? Will it be the case that pubs and hospitality will only be able to reopen for vaccinated customers? Will the Government confirm that, post vaccination, the previous artificial distinction between traditional wet pubs and pubs that serve food will be eliminated, and that all pubs and other hospitality businesses will be able to open together? There can be no justification post vaccination, in our view, for keeping wet pubs closed while allowing food pubs and restaurants to reopen.

We believe there is a strong case for the extension of financial supports for our sector. We acknowledge the level of Government support our sector has received to date. They have provided a real lifeline, with the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, payment in particular being essential in supporting these businesses. However, we believe a core underlying principle for Government must be recognition of the fact that the hospitality sector will require ongoing Government financial supports post reopening in light of the extended lockdown.

We believe these supports should fall under the following headings. First, there should be an immediate reopening support and restart grant, taking account of the extended closures the sector has endured. We call for these payments to be set at a level double to the restart plus grant payment that businesses received last summer. We believe short-term recovery supports are required for the immediate six to nine months after reopening. There are three priorities in this regard: the extension of the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, to 31 March 2022 to allow businesses return to viability and retain and grow jobs; the ongoing payment of CRSS to those businesses which cannot generate more than 25% of their average 2019 turnover because of any ongoing public health restrictions; and the third area for Government support should be a waiver of commercial rates for all licensed premises through to 31 March 2022. Combined, these three measures are crucial to support the industry’s ability to retain staff and, over time, to rebuild employment levels in our sector. It must be a strategic priority for the Government to reduce youth unemployment across the country and our sector is well placed to do that. Longer term, we seek supports to improve viability. In that regard, we seek the retention of the 9% VAT rate right through to the end of 2025.

We would appreciate the joint committee’s support in recommending the following to Government: first, the extension of those financial supports I have outlined; second, the clarification on reopening scenarios for our members and what, if any, public health restrictions might apply post vaccination; and, third, confirmation that there can be no justification for keeping wet pubs closed while allowing other parts of the hospitality sector to trade in summer 2021. I thank members for their attention. We would welcome any questions they may have.