Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not take that long, but I thank the Acting Chairman for allowing me the opportunity to speak on this important issue. I have not had the opportunity since the Minister's reappointment to wish him the best of luck and success in his role. I know he will be extremely diligent and hardworking, and I always appreciate and respect that very much. The Minister knows that the hospitality sector, including our hoteliers and vintners, was desperately hoping that radical changes would be made in the VAT rate and it would be reduced again. There were calls to bring the rate down to 0% for a period and then increased back to 9%. I was hoping the Government would have looked at that proposal sympathetically because it would have been a great stimulus and would have encouraged people to use the hospitality sector again. Much of that sector is on its knees now.

I must use this opportunity to plead with the Minister, on behalf of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, VFI, which represents our publicans, to ensure that pubs will be allowed to reopen on or before 10 August. The major fear people have is that the pubs will not be allowed to open then either. If the Minister can, I would like him to make a statement on whether it will be possible to allow the pubs to open on or before 10 August.

Returning to the rate of VAT, I honestly do not think it should have been increased from 9%. I lobbied the Government and the Minister hard about this issue in the past and I was hoping this opportunity would have been taken to bring VAT back down to a much lower rate. Unfortunately, that did not happen. There are also anomalies, for example, when we talk about trying to ensure that employers will be able to continue benefiting from the existing employment incentive schemes. I appreciate what the Government is trying to do, but as a person who operates a small business, I fully understand the difficulties small businesses have now. I referred to small businesses but I must also talk about bigger businesses because bigger employers have the same issues as smaller employers, only compounded by having more employees. They are desperate not to lay off people. They want to get everybody back to work and keep employing the people they have because they respect the work of those people and their contribution to businesses over the years. These employers just want to get the wheels rolling and the show on the road again.

There are issues with the fine-tuning of this initiative. The provision setting out the percentage of turnover by which businesses must be down if they are to continue to receive these payments can be misleading. I know of businesses which should be continuing to avail of the scheme in some shape or fashion but cannot do so because of the way the reduction in income is set. The reduction should apply for a period of time.

I am not one of those, like some who sit to my left at times, who believe the money in the Minister's pocket is endless and he can wave his hands and do whatever he likes. I am a realist and live in the real world. I understand the budgetary constraints the Minister operates under. I realise fully what it takes to balance a book, and whether someone is the Minister for Finance or the proprietor of a pub, shop or small manufacturing business, I live in the real world. I am not asking the Minister to do the impossible. I am asking him to do what could be achieved and perhaps to readjust the figures to allow people, for a limited time, to continue to receive the assistance they need regarding employees. Sometimes being in business is like being a farmer. It could be a case of hitting a desperate wall of financial difficulty, and if it were possible to get over the hump, it might be possible to reach greener pastures where better days would be ahead. It is like the situation during the last economic crash. Many businesses went out of operation and we were all terribly sorry to see that happen. A small thing might have sustained those businesses then and got them over that hump. All I hope now is that the Minister and his officials will be able to look sympathetically at the types of cases I am alluding to.

The more businesses that can be opened and the more economic activity we can get going, the better. It is awful to walk around, even in the city of Dublin, and see all the fine businesses still closed. It is upsetting and frightening to think of all those people at home who would rather be gainfully employed in their workplaces. They would give anything to get back to normal and that is all people want.

I am not coming in here knocking and criticising the Minister or his Department for what they have been doing.

I honestly think the Government has been as proactive as possible. I would have reservations over the amount of praise lavished on the EU deal that was agreed last week. The Minister knows that I acknowledge everybody's work. The Taoiseach travelled to take part in last week's summit and of course he did his best but I would not herald it as a great deal for the Irish. We will have to contribute an awful amount of money so there is an argument to be made there. That said, I believe everybody is trying to do their best. It would be welcome if we stimulated the economy and kept small businesses going while trying to address anomalies within the system for a period of time. It would mean a lot to the people I represent.

I spoke today and yesterday evening about musicians. There are approximately 35,000 musicians in the country about whom there has been very little talk. Their lives have been completely turned upside down and their financial needs are as great as anybody else's. Many of them were not working on 6 March and have not been working since and, as such, have failed to get any Covid money. Those people have been unemployed all of this year. This was to be their time for making money, playing music and entertaining people but, unfortunately, it has not happened. I desperately ask the Minister to help with this issue.

There are imaginative business people in that sector such as the O'Donoghue family in Killarney, County Kerry. That family has been involved in the hospitality sector for decades, more than 60 years, proudly flying the flag for Kerry and entertaining people in the magnificent INEC. They came up with the idea of drive-in concerts and, unfortunately, had to scrap their programme because it was deemed that entertainers should not be on stage. At the same time, drive-in bingo was perfectly acceptable. There should have been no problem if people were acting responsibly on stage and there could have been one-man or one-woman shows. Where is the public health danger in that? It did not make sense.

That innovation and others like it would help to create economic activity and employment. I appreciate that the Tánaiste last week told me that the Government was going to look seriously at the issue. I am naming the INEC in Killarney because it is my own local centre for that type of entertainment but how many more businesses could have that type of drive-in concert? These are employers who are trying to keep their doors open. Could we, as politicians, not help to facilitate that type of drive-in facility where entertainment would be provided? If I thought it would cause public endangerment, never in a million years would I ask the Minister to consider it. I do not want to see one person's life or health endangered but, at the same time, we cannot wrap ourselves in cotton wool forever and consider it unsafe for people to drive a car into a massive car park to watch a concert on stage. My goodness, where is the wrong in that? Where is the public health endangerment? It does not make sense.

I ask the Minister and the Government to consider sensible suggestions such as that one. I rely on the Minister to be commonsensical. He cannot tell me that the Government will look at these kinds of suggestions in the future because we need to look now. We need this to be done before Friday in order that in the short time that is left of our summer, businesses can be given a green light and a helping hand from the Government.

I also want the Minister to do everything he can for the hotel industry. I have been contacted by many employers who are worried about getting people back into the workforce if they have work available. Employers want to ensure that the Government will do everything possible to encourage people, if there is work available for them and as soon as it is safe and appropriate to do so, to come off the pandemic unemployment payment.

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