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

I had a chance to speak briefly to the president of the Irish Travel Agents Association, ITAA, on a Zoom call the other day. The Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughten, whose responsibilities cover aviation and international travel will meet ITAA representatives in the next couple of days to explore what specific supports we may be able to put in place for them.

Approximately 3,000 people work in travel agents and tour operators throughout the country. We all know these businesses and they are largely locally-owned, often family-owned. They tend to be an important feature on our high streets. While many people now book online, lots of people still use travel agents and tour operators, and that includes inbound as well as outbound travellers. We want to make sure that they survive and that they are able to do well again when we get past this pandemic. They benefit from the actions already put in place by Government including, for example, the wage subsidy scheme. Almost all of them would benefit from that because their turnover has gone down by so much. We also brought in the refund credit note scheme so that people would get vouchers or credit notes rather than cash refunds in an effort to assist the sector so that it did not collapse, although people are ultimately entitled to the cash if that is what they want. Their commercial rates have been waived and some are eligible for the restart grant once they get started again. We will see what else can be done with both through the July stimulus fund that is happening next week and also if there is anything in particular we can do for the sector. That is what the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughten, will explore with them.

The Deputy wrote to me about the online retail scheme, which falls under my responsibility as it is an Enterprise Ireland scheme. That funding has all been drawn down, but if we able to reopen the scheme, I take the Deputy's valid point that they should be included under that as well.

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