Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The truth is that not every business was viable before the pandemic. There were those who hoped they would become viable as the economy continued to grow. That has not happened. We had a pandemic instead and now the economy has shrunk so, for some businesses that hoped to become viable, that hope is now lost. We will see businesses close in all sectors, unfortunately. That is just the truth of it but we want to minimise the number of businesses that fail and for sectors who were hit hard, hit first and hit worst, such as the hospitality, arts and entertainment sectors, we want them to be able to at least trade through to Christmas if not to the tourist season of next year. They will need special help to do that.

I take the Deputy's point about the city centre. I am a fan of remote working. It has huge benefits for parents and for the rural economy and rural areas. It has benefits in terms of reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions but it is evident how quiet the city centre is at the moment. I wonder how many of those sandwich bars, coffee shops, small restaurants and so on in our city centres - not just in Dublin - can survive, if we do not have footfall. No amount of Government interventions, changes to VAT rates or commercial rates will replace footfall. We will need to have some sort of return of people to their offices over the next couple of weeks, providing the pandemic is under control - perhaps people working two or three days at home and two or three days back in the office. That will help the city centre.

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