Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 59:

In page 29, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “12.Within four weeks of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall produce a report on whether the Covid Restriction Support Scheme is accessible to and has provided meaningful financial support for self-employed/lone traders in sectors such as the taxi industry, music, arts, live entertainment and other similarly affected sectors.”.

The Ceann Comhairle was on a roll there. I thought I might get this through on the back of all those other amendments. If only it was that easy.

The contribution I made earlier related, to a large extent, to this amendment. That is why I did not come in on the second round of the earlier discussion and I assume it is why the Minister did not respond to the points I made. I will briefly summarise them and give him an opportunity to respond. The CRSS is supposed to support people whose businesses are impacted as a result of Covid restrictions. We support that and businesses that have been genuinely impacted and whose revenues beyond a certain threshold have been significantly reduced, or eliminated completely, should get that support. We support the Government on that. What we cannot understand is why, as I noted earlier, people are excluded from the scheme on the basis that they do not have a rateable premises, even though they carry all the same sorts of costs as businesses that have premises. It is just not fair. They have to make repayments on equipment and cars and they have to pay fuel and insurance costs. They have all the other overheads and things that are the reasons the CRSS is in place, yet just because their premises is a taxi, a van or a studio space for musicians, they are excluded. It is not fair. I would like to hear the Minister tell me it is fair but I do not see how he could possibly do so. Thousands of musicians, sound engineers and light engineers in the music industry have been devastated. The industries of other artists and performers have also been devastated and shut down since the beginning. Their art and music have helped sustain us through the pandemic and they are excluded. It is not fair.

It is not fair on the taxi drivers either. The revenue threshold for the CRSS is 25% and their incomes are down 70%. They might go up a bit with Christmas but they will still be way down. How are they supposed to pay their insurance costs or the repayments on their cars? What if their cars reach the ten-year limit and they have to replace them next year? How are they supposed to replace them? It is just not fair. This scheme should apply to them.

The Minister heard the debate about musicians erupt on the radio this morning. It is very unfair and demoralising for those musicians, many of whom are household names, to be denied that funding. Fair play to the ones who got it but 87% of those who applied did not because the fund was less than €1 million. If the Government is not going to give them that award, it should give them some other supports to carry them through. That is what our amendment is asking the Government to do. We do not, in truth, just want a review. We would like to just do it. We must extend this scheme to small businesses and lone traders like musicians, artists and taxi drivers, who need it.

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