Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can certainly appreciate the demands on the finite resources of the secretariat. However, we have to acknowledge that since 2018, when it finished that phase and it was handed over to Fáilte Ireland, there has been seismic change in this sector. Every member of this committee will be aware of the anecdotal information we are getting that a large number of those who were in the hospitality trade simply have not returned after the pandemic and the restrictions. Particularly among older people, given the isolation of the pandemic, not being able to work and not having that social dimension to their lives, they simply would not go back to hospitality afterwards. There is a huge crisis in this sector, much more so than in retail. Retail is challenged but I do not think it faces the same challenges that hospitality faces. I plead with the witnesses to try to prioritise an updated report on this sector. In terms of the suite of measures that we need to give the hospitality sector, we need to give them financial supports but we also need to give them the bricks and mortar to rebuild this sector, and this is a key part of that.