Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, indicates that 0.0002% of all outbreaks occur in hotels and 72% occur in private homes. I spoke this evening to the president of the Irish Hotels Federation. It wishes to meet the Department of Health and the Department of tourism. It is seeking an overall plan and for the Minister to tell it what it is missing, if anything. I spoke to various hoteliers from a business point of view. I am in business myself. One hotelier told me that the money the hotel took in that week was only enough to cover staff's wages and that if it had not been for the wage subsidy scheme that is in place, there would have been no money to pay for food, the ESB, phone bills and the other expenses that need to be paid to keep the hotel open. That indicates how important it is to subsidise these businesses. When the pubs reopened there was a big scare that there would be many outbreaks within the pub system, but pubs are a controlled environment and the HPSC has indicated that more outbreaks come from private homes. The Government is again driving people back into their homes. A couple from County Tipperary were due to get married this Saturday in County Limerick. After the level 3 announcement, the hotelier had to try to book the couple into a hotel in Tipperary to make sure they can get married on Saturday. Between them, they managed it. The hoteliers are working together.

The Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, stated on television a few nights ago that there are 40 medical people on NPHET. When I spoke on television afterwards, I asked how many members of the Cabinet are self-employed or from a business background. People from the hotel, music sector and travel agency sectors wish to sit down with a member of the Government for a meaningful conversation to give their day-to-day experience. Ministers, with their experience of being in Cabinet, could then work together to get them what they want.

What I want from the Minister this evening is a commitment that in the short term he will meet with the hotels federation. Its president, who is from Limerick, is Ms Elaina Fitzgerald Kane of the Woodlands House Hotel. I want a commitment that the Minister will meet and listen to them. They will work with the Minister and give him whatever advice and experience they have for both sides to help each other to go forward. I would like a reply to that from the Minister.

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