Mr. Padraig Cribben:

I will come back to an issue raised by Deputy Cathal Crowe earlier on the gas and electricity. Many people did apply but the businesses were turned down. Many of our members live over the business but if one was living over the pub, one did not qualify and quite a number were turned down because of that.

I thank the Chairman and the committee for giving us this opportunity. I hope that we have been able to demonstrate that the two things this industry is short of are cash and hope. Cash is always hard to come by. Hope is somewhat easier in the context of what we are looking for in respect of a roadmap. I ask the committee, in its report, to impress upon the Government the immediate need in this regard. Some time next week, we are going to get the next tranche of what the Government's thinking is on reopening the economy. I do not believe it is good enough to just look at what is going to happen in April. The Government must look beyond that to what will happen for the rest of the year, adding in the criteria to which Senator Byrne alluded, that this will not be a guarantee or certainty and that there may be caveats. I thank the members for giving us the opportunity and we look forward to seeing the committee's report and support for the issues we raised today.