Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday's announcement will have offered very little in the way of comfort or clarity for those working in the tourism and hospitality industry. Those representing the sector had hoped to see additional sector-specific support, but unfortunately it was not forthcoming. The tourism season is now over and hundreds of thousands of people who work in the sector are staring into the abyss. The Irish Hotels Federation has said that 100,000 people working in tourism have already lost their jobs and another 100,000 jobs are now at risk.

The tax rebate solution provided by the Government is woefully inadequate to deal with this situation. We have told the Government this umpteen times. The rebate is not due to come out until October, a time when most people cannot or will not go on holiday. It offers a limited rebate next year for those who can afford to go on holiday. Worst of all, the scheme excludes more than 700,000 people who are on low pay, those who are carers, the vast majority of pensioners, and people who have lost their work or their job due to the pandemic. All of these people are excluded. It is a shambles, but a cleverly drafted shambles to exclude the maximum number of people.

Sinn Féin put forward a plan that would have given vouchers during the summer, when families were in a position to take a holiday. Our plan would have seen each adult receive a voucher worth €200 and every child in the State being entitled to a voucher worth €100. Schemes of this type are in place in other jurisdictions. It would have put money directly into the pockets of every adult and child in the country, regardless of their tax or socioeconomic status, which would then have been spent in the Irish domestic tourism and hospitality sector. Instead we have a €105 tax rebate for the very small cohort who are eligible and which is available for holidays from October and in November.

Another sector brought to its knees by the pandemic is the entertainment sector. This comprises 35,000 full-time and part-time highly skilled workers, who have been almost entirely out of work since 12 March. The industry has been completely shut down by the Government due to the pandemic. There are no job opportunities for these workers and there is, literally, no end in sight for them. The sector needs specific and long-term support if workers and their families are to survive the next few months. Now is not the time to make cuts to Covid-19 payments.

Some months ago Sinn Féin called for the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and the temporary wage subsidy scheme to be extended to the end of the year and at the original rates for all the sectors still shut out of work due to the pandemic. We need specific grant funding for 2021 for this industry or until such time that it can reopen and resume work to make sure the people in it are in a position to do so when the industry is reopened. Sinn Féin put forward three substantial grant schemes of between €12,000 and €25,000 for SMEs and microbusinesses, as well as sole trader grants of €5,000, similar to what was done in the North and in other European Union countries. The €5 million live performance support scheme is welcome but it is clearly too little, too late. The allocation of €1 million for the music industry is a drop in the ocean. Again, a whole swathe of musicians are excluded because only professional musicians will qualify. Sinn Féin also brought forward solutions this morning for the taxi industry and practical measures that would help the taxi drivers to make a sustainable living in the next few months. I have only had a few minutes to speak this evening but one would need a few hours to go through the whole list of sectors the Government has let down.

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