Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak on the tourism sector. I welcome the Minister of State's frank comments and replies, and his understanding.

I want to mention at the outset a wonderful, proud Tipperary woman, Nora de Buitléir, who was laid to rest in An tAonach, maidin inniu. She was a powerful woman of song and history. She regaled us mainly in Brú Ború, in Cashel, but also all over Ireland, in this House at the Culture Night events, and all over the world with the Brú Ború tour. Nora was a font of wisdom and a wonderful woman who gave a huge amount of guidance to the young people at Brú Ború every year. She was great fun also. Labhrás Ó Murchú sent his eulogy today for somebody else to read. I sympathise with Labhrás and Una, and everybody involved in the music, song and culture. Nora was a proud Tipperary woman but also a proud Gaeilgeoir and Irishwoman. Ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís.

We all know how important the tourism industry is, in its many facets, as outlined by colleagues to the Minister of State today. The Covid-19 crisis is going to have a massive impact. We must do something to put manners on the insurance companies. Deputies have called many times for action on these issues. The companies show no respect for and no understanding of the hoteliers. We see at the moment that at least the power companies and utility companies are waiving their standing charges. It is about time. However, the insurance companies have just been ripping people off and now the hotels, pubs and roads are empty. We need to acknowledge that there have been no road accidents, thankfully

There are many areas of tourism in Tipperary I would like to mention, going from Carrick-on-Suir up to Clonmel and the new blueway, on to Cashel and its famed rock, and into Holycross, Nenagh, Roscrea and other parts of the county. Where Tipperary leads, the old adage says, Ireland follows. We are ready and willing to get going again, and I thank the Minister of State for his visits. However, we need the supports to do so. We need zero VAT sorted out and more supports rather than loans, because we cannot have the banks breathing down our necks.

There are many other aspects of tourism that one might not even think of, such as educational tourism. Can the Minister of State provide some clarity for education tourism providers? I am sure he is familiar with the foreign students who come to our country every summer for English language courses and exchanges as well as the students who enrol in our secondary schools. Many of the programme operators are now in limbo, like many others, as a result of the current crisis. They do not know whether they are coming or going. One such wonderful operator is Kim Connelly O'Grady who runs Gift Life Experience Limited in south Tipperary. She co-ordinates and facilitates travel arrangements and education courses for up to 200 students from Spain every year, offering a mixture of three-week summer programmes and school placements. We see these students and we get a lot from them. They love it here and get involved in the community and then they send their families to visit. There is huge tourism linked with that.

Kim has highlighted a number of issues to me. She has no choice but to cancel all plans for her three-week July programme due to the uncertainty and also the likelihood that students would have to self-isolate for 14 of their 21 days here. She is currently unsure as to where she stands financially in respect of deposit and flight refunds, as mentioned by Deputy Nolan and others. She is also at a significant loss because more than half of the students who signed up and are pre-booked to start school here in September have dropped out due to the uncertainty. These students contribute a lot to the local economy and our many tourism sites in Tipperary. The company employs four permanent staff and offers many other summer and temporary jobs. I will provide all these details in writing to the Minister of State and I hope he will keep educational tourism to the forefront of his mind.

We must also keep in mind the publicans. The Licensed Vintners Association is out there lobbying, and rightly so, but one size does not fit all. There are many small pubs - the pubs I like to go into - many of them family-run pubs and some of them hundreds of years old, which do not have the same space as the larger pubs. It is the same with other tourism products. Knockmealdown Active, the Rhododendron Walking Festival in Clogheen, Cahir Castle, run by Tipperary Tourism Company, and many other businesses such as those need to be supported. We need to tailor supports, as the Minister of State mentioned, to different-sized businesses and different facets of the tourism industry. It cannot be one size fits all. The vintners lobby is strong but we must ensure that everybody, including non-vintners, are supported.

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