Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the four organisations for coming along. It is heart-rending to hear them all. Outside of Dublin, we know many of the publicans, hoteliers and so on personally. We meet them and their families every day. They play hurling and football. They support most of the hurling and football teams and all sorts of activities in communities. It is a real eye-opener today to hear them all, and in such bad circumstances. We hear them. Regulation of the banks is most important. A moratorium has to come in and there should also be a moratorium on rents. I was contacted by a young couple who signed a contract at the beginning of March. I visited them the other day and they are €50,000 in debt. It is terrible.

In my area, we have not come across the likes of the seasonal restaurants. They are in real trouble because they have only a couple of months to make a year's profit. That should be looked at as well. Many people who opened their businesses just after March were not entitled to the CRSS, so that should be looked at, and the €55,000 turnover threshold should be looked at as well. It should definitely be reduced for the CRSS obligation.

I have questions for those representing the restaurants. They said they wanted a restart grant for eight weeks. Can they give me more detail on this? What are the reopening costs restaurants face? The licensed vintners said they had staff retention issues. Could they give us more details on that? What kind of training and development will they need? What level of funding or State intervention is required for that?

I do not think we can answer some of the questions the witnesses asked. They asked what percentage of the adult population will need to be vaccinated to allow the pubs to reopen. That is a NPHET issue as well. The other issue is the level of community transmission and what the R-nought must be before we can open up. They are all valid questions but I do not think we can answer them.

What do the witnesses need from the Government? Do the guidelines from the Government need to be strengthened? As for the roadmap the witnesses speak about, do they need a date?