Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try to keep my contribution to four minutes and leave two minutes for answers from the various witnesses. I thank the witnesses for coming in. I fully support them and all their members. Since I am from Cork South-West, a constituency that relies very heavily on tourism, I am well aware of the devastating impact the pandemic has had on their sectors. This year's St. Patrick's Day really rammed home how devastating an impact it had. For the second St. Patrick's Day in a row, and for the second week in two consecutive years, pubs, restaurants and pubs that serve food were closed. The enormous impact the pandemic has had on the sector really hit home. It left me with a real sense of melancholy. It also reaffirmed that we really need to step in, as a Government, to save incredible businesses that were and are viable.

It is really encouraging that despite the fact the witnesses represent slightly different sectors, the requests are clear and consistent. These include the continuation of the EWSS and the increase to, and continuation and extension of, the CRSS to include more businesses. We have to get behind and support the need for another restart grant, which is coming across quite clearly, the extension of the 9% VAT rate until 2025 and the rates waiver extension, until the end of the year at the very least.

A couple of the witnesses have clearly pointed to the idea of a roadmap. In meetings with several sectors, most recently with the Cork south-west hotels groups, one statement that really hit home is that businesses crave certainty. At the moment, they do not have that. We need to step up to the mark, provide that certainty and roadmap and get rid of the mixed messaging which has done no one any favours.

The representatives touched on banking and finance and to make it easier to decide who will answer, I will go to the Irish Hotels Federation, IHF, on this one. Would a standard banking approach be welcome? My understanding, after speaking to hotels, is that there is a complete variance in approach from different banks on the terms they discuss with businesses. We had a scenario where there was a blanket moratorium on repayments for a period, which was really helpful, but after that businesses were left to fend for themselves. Do we need to grab the banks by the scruff of the neck, for want of a better term, and lay down a standard approach for dealing with businesses in providing finance? We need to get rid of the idea these businesses are not viable because they have been viable and will be again. We need to look again at a moratorium on payments and how to deal with payments. That is a question for the Irish Hotels Federation.

On the voucher scheme, I will put an idea to the Restaurants Association of Ireland. I spoke previously about the idea of a voucher scheme. I suggested a voucher scheme for those who were over 65 and had received the vaccine. I must say it received a mixed response but the response from the hospitality sector was quite positive. I am quite confident that July and August will be very strong for the hospitality sector but after that, in September, October and November, there are fears of a bleak cliff edge. A voucher scheme does not have to be for the over-65s. It can be broadened to include much more but it is clear that the stay and spend scheme did not work. There was only a 0.2% uptake because it was only a tax relief. People were not willing to take it up because of the way it was structured but putting a €100 or €150 voucher in people's hands would really make a difference. I would love to hear the witnesses' opinion on whether something like that would work.