Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We had a debate earlier on workers' rights. I know the Tánaiste will have an interest in what was said and in the nature of the economy we are trying to grapple with, even since before Covid arrived, which is a low-pay economy. The Tánaiste spoke about this in his remarks also. We have spoken before about the disproportionate number of young people and migrant workers who are on low pay and the huge numbers of young people in insecure work.

I will give context to the debate and what we are facing. This is not a debate on building an economy after Covid. We are very much in the thick of this. Professor Philip Nolan has stated that having seen the statistics tonight, he is more concerned than he has been at any stage of the pandemic since late April.

Without trying to rehash a debate about yesterday, I put it to the Tánaiste that there is a level of confusion about what is happening in Dublin. Perhaps the Tánaiste will confirm to the House the situation with household restrictions. Only two households, regardless of their size, and a limit of six people can meet and socialise together. I understand that this also means bars and restaurants but I am not sure if this has been communicated, or if it is as well known throughout Dublin that restrictions are that no more than six people from two households can socialise. People cannot, therefore, socialise in a bar or in a restaurant beyond two households either. I am not sure if this has been clearly communicated. The Tánaiste might clarify this in his concluding remarks. This would have an economic impact on the city. It would have an impact on those who are booking tables and hoping to sell their wares in bars and restaurants.

The point is well made for having a sector-by-sector response. I appreciate the efforts the Government has made. I am aware that it is difficult and that the Government has tried to keep as many people as possible on the standard of living they had been used to. The Tánaiste will appreciate that it can be frustrating for sectors that are not getting the same amount of media attention when they hear certain lobby groups in certain industries getting a huge amount of airtime. Other sectors may not be getting as much attention, which is frustrating.

Some industries are clinging on but others may not survive as a total industry. I will refer to two, one of which is the travel agent industry. My office met with representatives of the travel agencies yesterday. The industry supports 3,500 workers. The industry has been though a lot, as one might imagine, such as ash clouds, wars and 9/11. The industry has survived but it cannot just close its doors and then hope to reopen after a period of time. The agencies must try to recoup refunds for people they deal with, and they provide a particular service because there is a callback or a guarantee that is a friendly Irish voice for those who depend on travel agents. The industry has told me that if specific sectoral supports are not put in place now, there will not be an Irish travel agent industry after Covid. It could be run from abroad or from the UK. We need to be mindful of this when formulating responses to Covid and when formulating budgets. How do we decide sector by sector and how do we formulate responses to protect jobs? The Tánaiste will know that it is much easier to protect or maintain a job than to create one. The travel agent representatives have some very practical suggestions as to how this might be done and I wanted to flag this with the Tánaiste.

While the travel agents industry represents 3,500 jobs, another group that makes the case for 35,000 jobs is the live events industry.

I have to say this is absolutely remarkable. I would not walk out in the middle of a Deputy's contribution in this Chamber. I have stayed to the end when other Deputies were making their contributions and then I have left. The previous contribution I made in this House was on the matter of workers' rights and we did not have a senior Minister for the debate. I did not make that point again when the Tánaiste was here. I thought I had made my point on that and that I would leave it. He sat there, listened to half of my contribution and then he left. I find that incredibly disrespectful to what we are trying to achieve here. Honestly, I walked into the House thinking that the time for party political point scoring was over. I thought let us have some practical solutions here and let us talk about the travel agents I talked to yesterday and about the live events industry that supports 35,000 jobs but in the middle of my contribution the Tánaiste decides to walk out. He could not wait, literally, for five minutes. Is there any point in me continuing my contribution?

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