Dáil debates

Wednesday, 6 May 2020

Covid-19 (Tourism): Statements

 

3:25 pm

Photo of Christopher O'SullivanChristopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It has been a long road up from west Cork and I know the Ceann Comhairle will offer me a bit of liberty. I am here today, like everybody else, to highlight the hardships that our tourism sector is facing. There is no doubt that the sector will face a massive struggle in post-pandemic Ireland. While other sectors will be impacted, we can all agree that tourism will face the longest road back when this pandemic has abated.

Tourism is of vital importance to our economic health. The industry employs more than 260,000 people. It generated €7.5 billion in revenue last year and was worth €1.7 billion to the Exchequer. It is fair to say that 2020 has been an economic write-off for tourism. These tourism businesses emerged from the quiet months of January and February into an absolute economic lockdown. It has devastated many of the towns and villages that rely on tourism to put bread on the table. In my own county of Cork, for example, the hotel industry once employed 6,000 people. That number has been whittled down to 400 people. We are talking about absolute devastation to the industry.

The tourism sector is an ecosystem of thousands of delicately balanced, community-based small and medium sized enterprises that are the economic backbone of rural towns and villages in Ireland. West Cork, where I am from, is a perfect example of that, similar to Kerry, of which Deputy Foley spoke.

I am not asking for an immediate opening of the floodgates and acknowledge that public health has to come first. However, when we beat this thing, and we will, we must be in a position where we can hit the ground running. We need a dedicated plan to help the sector. I firmly believe that just throwing money at advertising campaigns is not good enough and while interest-free loans and reductions in VAT are steps in the right direction, they are not enough. Significant grant aid is needed for the businesses affected. Businesses in the tourism sector are finding it incredibly difficult to access finance at the moment because there are questions about the viability of those businesses and the banks are classifying them as a high-risk category. That does not make sense because those businesses were viable before Covid-19 and will be again. What we need is grant aid. Those businesses need a stimulus and money in their pockets so that they can pay and retain staff and keep their businesses afloat.

In my first address in the Chamber I called for a reduction in VAT. I am calling for that again. Will the Government consider a 0% VAT rate for these industries? Will it begin the planning for a campaign to reinvigorate domestic tourism in the medium term? What is it the Government doing to ensure the long-term return of international tourism? Will it consider providing significant grant aid for those businesses? These operators need clarity. Restaurant and café owners need to know how much space they need to put between tables. How many people will be allowed in their premises? Will Perspex divisions, for example, work? They need to know the answers to those questions. Can the Government provide clear guidance to those businesses to ensure they know precisely what they need to do to reopen?

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