Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will pass on the Deputy's message. I have not considered that yet, but I will pass on the message and get a consideration of that issue. There was no particular reason those operators were not on the task force and we were not in any way trying to exclude them. The task force is very small and includes people who will represent them extraordinarily well. It includes representatives from Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland, the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation, ITIC, and many groups that will certainly represent the point of view of the operators. We could not possibly include every vested interest in the tourism industry or we would have a committee of 400 or 500 people. I think the bus and coach operators will, however, find people on the task force who will represent them very capably. There are also people from my Department on that task force who will be very happy to hear their points of view. They are not being excluded for any reason except that only some of the very significant and large stakeholders, such as hotels and others, are on it. There are niche elements that are not on it, many of them, but they will find a home there if they approach someone on the committee. There is no doubt about that. If they come to me directly, I will refer problems or representations, whatever they are, straight to the committee. There is no effort whatsoever to exclude them.

The other issue addressed by Deputy Nolan was jobs. One of the reasons for having a task force is so that the voiceless can be represented. I refer to those not normally represented on bodies like this. It normally tends to be chief executives and the big battalions exclusively. I would certainly include the chief executives and the powerhouses in the industry on that. We also want to see, however, people who are not particularly powerful and who are weakened by this crisis represented on the task force. That is what we intend to do, and I promise all the Deputies who have made representations about this issue today that they will be represented there, because as people they are equally important to the most powerful people in the country.

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