Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Impact of Covid-19: Hospitality Sector

Ms Elaina Fitzgerald Kane:

A classic example is our own hotel which is in the region of that size. Just in the context of numbers, a lot of hotels have had to continue to pay insurance or there are different types of schemes around it. Against the backdrop of a reduced amount of activity in terms of both sales and employment, we are not seeing that mirrored with the same levels of decreases in premiums as they are rearranged. There are some policies that are seeking to exclude Covid also. It is not just what happened pre-Covid but also these new conditions and what we are seeing. This is a source of great concern to us as businesses reopened yesterday after 105 days of cash burn. There are a lot of challenges around. The Deputy may be familiar with Michael Magner in Cork, who is very close to that. It is something that needs to be seriously addressed. It is so anti-competitive in terms of trying to build forward and certainly in terms of the level they cover and the confidence and assurance that comes with it.