Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We will very much take the figures and the information Deputy Cahill has provided will help. My colleague, the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Catherine Martin recognises that the coach industry in the tourism sector is in real trouble, along with so many other aspects of the sector. We need to be sector-specific in recognising this. The loss of the coach tourism business has been cataclysmic this summer and it is facing into a difficult winter. I will certainly try to incorporate the ideas the Deputy has raised.

Tourism is one part of this business. The commercial operators and bus companies operating particular passenger routes outside the tourism sector may, I hope, be able to recover sooner rather than later, particularly if we can avoid a second wave. Confidence in that regard in getting the public back on buses will depend on us getting the public to buy into using a face covering on public transport. If we can get that, public confidence will be much stronger and passenger numbers will come back. I hope within the coming days to have news that will help that in terms of using health regulations to manage that. I hope that will help the commercial bus operators.

I will also mention to the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform the Deputy's ideas on the different VAT regimes North and South. I should signal that we also have a challenge facing us in terms of bus services across the Border in a no-deal Brexit situation. We will have to work on that. The likes of McGinley's bus which I have used many a day have to have certainty around how they can operate across the Border, to take one example from my own experience. We have a lot of work to do there to protect bus and coach operators in the event of a no-deal Brexit. I will commit to doing that and supporting this vital public transport service.

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