Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that we are having these statements tonight. I express solidarity with the people who have been directly affected by the coronavirus so far, and their families. I also commend the many people in communities who are working at the front line to try to contain the situation. I thank them on behalf of everybody in this House for the work they do.

The virus has already brought considerable human suffering and major economic disruption across the globe. According to the latest OECD interim economic assessment, the coronavirus presents the global economy with its greatest threat since the financial crisis. At this point, it is too early to be able to assess what will be the overall impact on the economy, but the potential impact is huge.

Not much has been said tonight specifically about the tourism industry, but it is an area that is hugely exposed. I assure everybody in the sector that we are very much on top of this and monitoring the situation. If necessary, we are ready to intervene if the situation becomes worse. The importance of tourism in Ireland cannot be overstated. More than 260,000 are employed in tourism in the Republic of Ireland alone and those jobs are in every community. It is a critically important part of our economy. We have seen the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak in Italy. Flights have been suspended. In addition, the airline, Flybe, collapsed last night. The spin-off effect of the coronavirus outbreak is immense. We are keenly watching this space as I am very concerned about potential job losses, especially in the tourism sector. We know the bite has started to take effect. There have been numerous cancellations of events, in particular of corporate events but also across the board. Speaking to people in my constituency and throughout the industry, I have heard of many cancellations, in particular over the past ten or 11 days. That is very worrying for the season ahead.

The Minister, Shane Ross, and I have established and participate in a Covid-19 tourism monitoring group made up industry stakeholders, the tourism agencies and Department officials. We met yesterday and the previous Wednesday and we will meet again next week. The group is monitoring the disruption to the sector and is assisting in formulating our response to what is still an evolving situation. Fáilte Ireland has set up a Covid-19 industry advisory group, which met on Tuesday. The purpose of the group is to provide support to the tourism industry and facilitate the rapid sharing of information and insight to help improve the sector's understanding and response to the outbreak. Tourism Ireland expects a decline in holiday bookings from overseas over the next four to six weeks, especially from the USA, which is very worrying. Tourism Ireland's marketing activity in markets is being kept under close review. That will continue as necessary, with marketing campaigns being monitored on a case-by-case basis. Despite the nervousness and uncertainty we now face in the sector, in addition to the couple of years of uncertainty due to Brexit, which had a particular impact on the UK market, it is important that we remain calm, react proportionately and proceed with business as normal, while at the same time adhering to public health guidelines. As of now, the St. Patrick's Day festival is going ahead as planned. This could change if the situation escalates and pending the guidance on mass gatherings to be published by the national public health emergency team. The significance of the St. Patrick's Day festival is that it effectively kick-starts the tourism season in this country. The message that would go out if the festival were to be cancelled would be very worrying and detrimental to the entire industry.

In the area of sport, like everyone else, I am very disappointed about the postponement of the Six Nations rugby match but, again, we must look at the bigger picture and public health measures. I hope that people recognise the postponement was deemed a necessary precaution in the interest of public health. It remains our intention that the game would be rescheduled later in the year, as happened in 2001 when we had the foot and mouth outbreak. I express my appreciation to the IRFU for its timely response to the advice of the Minister and the Chief Medical Officer. Other upcoming rugby games and soccer matches may now be in jeopardy. In particular, I am mindful that we are due to host four Euro 2020 games in June. We are monitoring that issue closely and will react as appropriate as time progresses. Similarly, regional sporting events, be they national league or even local games, will be monitored as the situation evolves. We will keep a very close eye on it. I assure everybody of our absolute vigilance in relation to all matters pertaining to tourism and sport. We will continue to work with all of the people concerned, including those in agencies and Departments, to ensure the best possible outcome.

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