Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not clumsy at all; I think it will work as a structure. Having been in previous Governments, I know that co-ordination is key. In coalition Governments - this is a three-party Government - where one has regular engagement, particularly between the three leaders and also to avoid issues that may be disruptive or may cause difficulties, it will require hard work but that is needed to maintain cohesion.

The Cabinet co-ordination committee is a good idea. It does not only comprise the three leaders. It involves the Secretary General of my Department and the three advisers to each party leader. The idea is to review the programme for Government, make sure it is being implemented, identify any issues that are causing difficulties and see whether a resolution can be found. It is not the dominant committee in the work of the Cabinet. It is there to prevent issues from festering and becoming bigger issues than they should and to develop trust between the three parties, and that is working. It worked during the negotiations and it will continue.

I take Deputy Kelly's point on the architecture of workers' rights. We will be cognisant of that, as well as the climate. In fairness, the July stimulus arises quickly but there is much work done. We will publish it next week. I refer to Deputy's point on tourism. I would like to hear his ideas on tourism in terms of the tax measures that might be optimal for the industry.

It is interesting that many people are saving at present. There are a lot of savings in the banks and elsewhere. One of the issues is, can we engineer greater expenditure over the next while domestically to give an impetus to the economy. The key areas of the wage subsidy and the pandemic unemployment payment are important but other initiatives can be taken as well that could lead to jobs in the short term to deal with the disruptive impact that Covid represents. One of the dangers is that Covid is not going away. It could be with us for the next 12 months or more unless a vaccine arrives. Even then, that will take time too. We must try and fine-tune our economy and our model to meet the realities of living with Covid.

That impacts on tourism, travel and the more global side of our economy, without mentioning Brexit, which is coming around the corner.

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