Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with my colleague, Deputy Fleming. I welcome this Bill and its contents. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, on his new role. I wish him every success during the Government's period in office.

Looking at the contents of the legislation, it is to enable us to get money from Europe and get a fund in place to ensure funding available to businesses in post-pandemic Ireland. What we really need to do is look at what happened in recent months. There was what can only be called carnage right throughout the industrial world in small to medium-sized and even large businesses. There is great concern among those operating businesses and those employed in them regarding the future and how soon it will be possible to get back to normal or back to what things were like pre-Covid-19 in January, February and March 2020.

We as a society have to look at the Ireland of the middle of July 2020 and see what has happened in recent months. We must see the real challenges that exist in the tourist industry, the catering industry and all the small-to-medium-sized businesses that were supplying all sectors. We must see the challenges and the voids that are left. We look at this legislation and we have to ensure we can get money quickly to where it really matters. In the past decade, we saw the challenges that were faced after the crash and what has subsequently happened concerning small to medium-sized businesses never getting back off the ground.

Some tremendously successful businesses will need grants rather than loans to get them up and running and to protect employment, not just in urban Ireland but in rural Ireland. Much of the time, society is way ahead of us here in this Chamber and the commentators. Society has moved very fast in recent months. I come from a very rural constituency and I have looked at what has happened, including remote working, smart working and the number of people working from home. I refer to people in public service employment who have been working very efficiently from home. We have to put that down as a marker.

We have also looked at some of the multinational companies, which provide greatly prized employment in cities and large towns. They have had their employees working from home as well. The multinationals have looked at the benefit to themselves as companies but also at the benefit to their employees. The very simple thing is that when the employee is happy, the company is happy. In the context of this legislation to support industry, we must ensure that we take on board what has happened in society and not be trying to direct it towards more urbanisation.

We have a major opportunity now, if we care to take it. I know that some people have little respect for country folk or that way of life. That attitude exists and we have to rid society of it. We have to rid the higher echelons of that attitude and we must look closely at what can be achieved. Regarding Covid-19, the associated measures and whether we are serious, we will see that there is fear in the country now regarding a second wave and what should be done to stop people coming into Ireland etc.. We have seen where restaurants have taken it upon themselves to enforce the regulations and ensured that they are protecting their businesses and the people who will be coming into their premises.

We have to look back to when the pandemic was at its highest, and the fact that the challenges were in the large urban centres and people were looking to get to rural areas. Thanks be to God, from my own perspective, we live in a rural community and those rural communities were spared the worst of the pandemic. That is, however, the secret as we go into the future as a society. We have to look at the pluses. If we are desperately serious about ensuring that we learn the lessons, I refer to the old saying regarding never wasting a crisis to make the right decisions. If we are serious about making the right decisions as society has learned to do, if those lessons can be learned by the Government and those who will be making the decisions in the next decade or so, we will have to ensure that there is more encouragement for multinational companies, small to medium-sized enterprises and State enterprises to relocate their people to rural communities, where they can work very effectively from home. That has been proven on this occasion.

We have had many debates concerning decentralisation over the years but we have seen now that society has decentralised itself recently. It has not waited for the Government or direction but because of a pandemic, people have decentralised themselves and we should ensure that we take that lesson from society, because society is always ahead of the curve. Looking at this legislation which is intended to try to make more money available, it is also important to ensure there is less bureaucracy involved and that we are not tying up small to medium-sized enterprises with employees having to try to wade through red tape. Funding must be provided as quickly as possible to businesses to ensure their survival. It is vitally important that we take that into account.

This is the first time I have spoken on legislation relating to the pandemic. As a society, we need to look at the front-line workers and what they have done for us, not only the healthcare workers but also those working in shops, delivering food etc.. I refer to those who kept the wheels going. We should always remember those people. They are so important to our society as we move into the future. With those few words, I commend the legislation.

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