Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Donoghue. I am one of the people at Cabinet who has a business background. I have a sense of how difficult it is to get up in the morning and work every hour so that you can pay your staff, pay your bills and, heaven forbid, get a bit of a margin at the end of the day to take home and live your own life. It breaks my heart to see what has happened around this country because of this disease. I see people who have dedicated their entire lives to running small local businesses or big businesses, or families who have done so for generations, who have been annihilated and it breaks my heart.

The Government has spent several billion euro, as the Deputy will appreciate, on the wage subsidy scheme, on the unemployment benefit and on the restart grants. This week, an additional 30% top-up for the restart grant was included. None of that will be enough. I spoke last week to hoteliers in my own county of Wicklow and it broke my heart to listen to what was going on, their stories and the stories of their staff, and staff who had worked in their hotels for generations. They were having to tell them the staff were at 10% occupancy or 15% occupancy, and they were closing. It is heartbreaking and it is not fair on anybody. I would love if we had the money in the country to do more. There is a multi-billion euro plan, probably the biggest economic stimulus plan that has ever been seen, in terms of the July stimulus and what came after that as well.

Of course, I will meet the industry. I met hoteliers recently in Wicklow. My understanding is they are engaged with the relevant line Minister as well.

See this speech in context