James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Covid support scheme was a welcome addition to the range of Covid-19 supports in place, which will give enterprises the best opportunity to maintain their businesses during this very difficult trading period. I welcome the additional double payments made over the Christmas and new year period in recognition of the additional financial impact on those businesses for which Christmas would normally have been a particularly busy trading period. The demand for the scheme shows the importance of the role of the Government during this time. As we head into an extended timeline of level 5 restrictions, it is critical that the Government continue to play a leading role in providing supports for businesses.

While such a scheme is very costly, businesses need to have the certainty that they will continue to be supported, however long this pandemic may last. The employment wage subsidy scheme is critical to ensuring that employer-employee relationships are maintained and that when businesses can reopen, they can do so quickly. The CRSS will help businesses to get through level 5 and ensure that employees have jobs to go back to, that businesses are maintained and that livelihoods can thrive once again.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of towns and villages. If these businesses were to shut down permanently, it would have a very adverse impact on our towns and rural settings and the very fabric of rural society throughout the country. I ask the Minister to re-examine the case of premises whose trade has been impacted by a reduction in customer demand because of Covid-19, such as travel agencies. While the indirect nature of the reduction in business activity is recognised, the level of restrictions on movements, and now the restrictions on international travel, make a strong case for this area to be re-examined.

Many people will have woken up this morning after having been faced with the news of continued lockdown until 5 March. It is not the position in which, prior to Christmas, many of us thought we would be. While these times may be very difficult, this is not a time to lose hope. We can and should get through this. Although some of these schemes may seem like figures on a page, the businesses they will help to support are not. I urge the Minister to continue to support businesses, which are the backbone of this economy. Many family-run businesses, unfortunately, will not survive this pandemic and that is a sad reality the Minister's Department will have to deal with when deciding how to allocate financial supports. Above all else, however, we must be highly cognisant that if we allow too many businesses in rural communities, such as those in the constituency of Cork East where I am from, and on our main streets to die because of this pandemic, it will do irreversible damage to our economy and society, and to the well-being of people in rural Ireland.

I wish to emphasise that point. I have been working with many local businesses and it has been an enormous privilege to work alongside members of our local business community since I became a public representative. Particularly during the pandemic, it is easy to see they are continuing to go through much difficulty, not least those companies that were undergoing financial restructuring, unfortunately, just prior to the emergence of the pandemic. They have found it quite difficult to access supports such as the CRSS. I ask that a continued and renewed focus from the Department be put into that.

I wish the Minister well. The State has responded with urgency to some of the matters we have faced. For example, we responded with the largest budget in the country's history. The Opposition cannot be entirely critical, therefore, of the actions of the Government and of the Minister. I ask him to continue to engage with local and small businesses and to bear in mind that we cannot afford to shut down main streets across the country. It will be extremely difficult for those businesses ever to come back and they will face significant financial uncertainty and difficulty. It is important that we support them in every way we can.

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