Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It affects all types of business but, in particular, small peripheral businesses, which tend to be businesses with small cash reserves, which may be the businesses that are slower to attract footfall and revenues into the future. The Deputy is right in terms of being concerned for those businesses. I, too, am concerned for them. The Government has introduced a number of measures across the economy to try to support employers and employees at this time. The Deputy will be aware of the schemes that have been announced, including the wage subsidy scheme and the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment. The future of these schemes will be have to be reviewed as the situation evolves.

In regard to the tourism sector, Fáilte Ireland has been working closely with us and affected businesses in terms of preparing supports and assistance for tourism companies and organisations. As part of this work, Fáilte Ireland established a business supports task force and a Covid-19 business support hub, which is available online. The supports available include business liquidity information and advice, human resources advice, temporary lay-off and redundancy advice, how employee welfare can be protected, management of temporary closures, safeguarding future revenues, jump-starting sales, operational guidance, Government supports, brand and reputation and employee well-being. As I said, all of this information is available online and via webinar, which I understand from people have been quite well received. There is also a detailed FAQ section. This is a useful resource to which the Deputy could direct people.

As I said earlier, the overall situation is evolving and so too is the response of Government. In the early stages, a Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment of €203 was introduced. This payment was subsequently increased to €350. The suite of supports announced by Government on Saturday is just that, namely, the latest suite of supports. We know that further measures will be needed for enterprises, large, medium and small. As the situation evolves, further supports will have to be developed and put in place, not only for the survival phase, which for some will be a long phase, but the recovery phase as well. The supports that might be put in place for survival might be entirely inappropriate for recovery and vice versa. The State will have to continue to move as the needs of enterprises change. From our perspective in regard to the tourism and hospitality sector, we will work closely with all partners to ensure that happens.

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