Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our witnesses. I am Senator Carrigy from Longford. I am the tourism representative for Fine Gael in the Seanad. To echo the comments made by my colleague, Deputy Cannon, this is an issue that is regularly discussed by us at parliamentary party level. I guarantee the witnesses that, as a party, we will be fully supportive of all the support measures needed.

It was said earlier that the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, was in the Seanad Chamber yesterday for a number of hours. That gave us an opportunity to put forward some proposals that were put to us and to re-emphasise the point about the 9% VAT rate. It is extremely important that that is extended for a number of years. It built confidence, led to a large number of jobs being created and international visitors in the sector prior to Covid-19 and post the economic crash. It is a successful model. It worked ten years ago and it is something we need to put in place and commit to into the future.

I was struck by Mr. Anderson's comments about the loss of experienced staff. The numbers were stark and make it difficult for any business to reopen. I think it was Mr. O'Keeffe who made the point that it is impossible to put a date on it but when a certain percentage of our population is vaccinated it will be safe, within health guidelines, to start to open up our economy. That is something we need to impress on the Government, which needs to give some certainty to the industry that when a certain percentage of our population has been vaccinated we can open up within certain guidelines.

I looked up the list of people on the tourism recovery task force. Ms Fitzgerald Kane is on it but there is no representative from the pub or restaurant industry. I agree with the point that there should be a representative from Fáilte Ireland on it because it is not just about tourism. It is about tourism and hospitality so we need to have representatives from the hospitality area on those organisations.

The point made that some landlords are looking to charge interest on rent arrears when people are struggling to survive is outrageous. We need to determine if legislation can be brought in to make that practice illegal.

I totally disagree with the two-tier system in terms of opening up hospitality, on which I have spoken numerous times. I am not be in favour of that happening next year. There should not be any difference in terms of dry pubs, wet pubs, restaurants or hotels serving food and so on. It created a divide within the industry which was not good.

We have not really tackled the issue of cheap alcohol. Looking at it from the outside, our pub industry is closed yet we are allowing the large multiples sell cheap alcohol. We made it quite easy for the younger generation to get drunk with the prices being charged. An underground drinking culture has developed. We have seen in the media the number of shebeens, etc., that have been set up across the country. I feel strongly that we need to address that issue. There were many discussions a number of years ago with regard to the minimum unit pricing Bill and it has not been introduced. That should be introduced if we are to rebuild our hospitality sector but also for the health and well-being of a younger generation.

Those questions are for the Licensed Vintners Association, LVA, and the Vintners Federation of Ireland, VFI, members. I spoke about this issue to the chair of my VFI in Longford, Gerry Lynn, on numerous occasions but the witnesses might give their views on it.

On the stay and spend scheme, I agree that an amended version involving a voucher should be put in place for the period September 2021 into 2022.

The one thing that should come from this meeting is that collectively across parties we support the industry. For any industry to recover it has to survive and we have to make sure that the measures are put in place to ensure it can survive. It is incumbent on us, and people throughout the country, that we support the industry in our own country and that we holiday in Ireland over the coming years.