Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am one of those unfortunates who likes a bargain. I listened to the speech of the Minister of State and I must write a note to myself not to shop in his store in future. I do not think there was anything he outlined to us that would change our minds on this. We are all starting from the position that we believe the sector is on its knees and this will introduce a new element that will make it even more difficult for people to recover. I listened to the Minister of State speak about the Labour Party proposal and his compromise that he would review it after 12 months. I would welcome this but it does not necessarily need to be in the Bill. He could articulate to us today that he will review it after 12 months. It is the sensible thing to do. I still think it is more sensible not to introduce this section and the €75.

There are different types of tourists who come to Ireland. Some have bigger pockets than others. I do not think the argument about some of the stores where people spend €50 and get €10 back encourages more spending. If it did, the Minister for Finance would look at alcohol sales and there would probably be changes in that regard. I accept the Minister of State probably cannot make this decision now. Other speakers have referred to the fact the Minister for Finance was in the room during the debate. The Minister of State needs to consult the Minister and if there is a mechanism whereby he can come back to us, such as an amendment somewhere else, perhaps we could look at it. It is wrong, from the starting point of baldly looking at this issue as that it will do more harm than anything.

I also listened to what the Minister of State said about the British not having a reciprocal measure. Again, with regard to what the Brits do and what we do, we need to look at what is good for the Irish people and the Irish economy. We know that Brexit is not good for the economy. We know that the road the British Government is bringing its people down is the wrong road. There are people throughout Europe, and probably throughout the world, who would accept the premise that what the Brits are doing is madness but they are intent on it. They had a referendum and they believe it is the right thing for them to do. We have a contrary view.

We need to look at what is good for Ireland and clearly this is not good for Ireland with regard to those visitors whom we hope will return to our shores. I agree with Deputy Howlin's statement that there will not be massive tourism. Certainly all of us want to go back into the sun and holiday mode. One of my colleague spoke about the staycation. It did not really work, particularly for people in Dublin because we were in more lockdowns than other parts of the country and many people who bought those staycation breaks did not get the opportunity to use them. I hope they will get to use them early next year or when the current lockdown is lifted.

I appeal to the Minister of State to put on his thinking cap. He is clearly thinking about how good this will be for the taxpayer and businesses. We have a contrary view. We do not think it is good, particularly for those businesses that have been hammered, as Deputy Nash said. They are on their knees. It is an element being introduced that will do serious harm to the sector. It is something it could do without. It is an additional headache for the sector. With regard to the argument on having a different arrangement for other countries, and the Minister of State mentioned the US and China, there is nothing stopping any legislation having something about Britain. If he is worried about getting new legislation through the House, we know from our experience that if we set our minds to it we can introduce legislation within 24 hours if it was felt necessary. I have been one of those people who has sat up half the night to get legislation through the House. That is not an argument.

The Minister is introducing an unknown. My instinct is that this will harm the sector, which is what my colleagues and others in the Opposition are saying. I appeal to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to immediately get in touch with the Minister for Finance, and to think again and revisit this particular element. If he cannot make that decision, he could park this while we go through the other parts of the legislation. If the Leas-Cheann Comhairle thinks that is possible, we could deal with the other sections and then come back to this later in the evening. The Minister needs to think again and to change his approach in this regard.

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