Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Harkin. I will make a short statement and ask the Minister of State some questions, to which he might respond, before I hand over to Deputy Harkin. All speakers have mentioned the impact the closure is having on small businesses and tourism enterprises throughout the country and the question of how they can reopen in the coming time. A good report was done by the local authorities providing a regional analysis of the economic impact of the Covid-19 environment. It shows that the north west is supremely impacted, perhaps more so than any other part of the country.

I wish to ask the Minister of State about what State measures are in place to assist small tourism businesses in meeting their ongoing costs and enabling them to reopen and stay in business.

The beginning of July has been mentioned as a possible timeframe for the reopening of this sector, but we do not yet know if that will be possible. There could be slippage in regard to that timeframe, depending on the response across the board. This year is impacted severely and probably gone for most tourism industries and businesses. I ask the Minister of State to outline what supports are available to the sector now, following which we can discuss what can be done into the future.

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