Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I want to acknowledge the stimulus we had in November and the huge amount of money that has been put in by this Government to try to protect people who have been severely financially hit by Covid-19. The health of our citizens is obviously the paramount thing we must protect but financial well-being also has an impact on the mental health of individuals and is a huge cause for concern.

In the past couple of weeks, I received numerous calls from constituents who are unhappy with the way the banks have treated them since this latest lockdown came into play. Many people are struggling to repay loans, mortgages and lease agreements. They need a break and should not have their credit ratings impacted as a result of this. People were under huge financial pressure last summer. We have an awful lot of people out there whose businesses have been closed for almost 12 months. It will be 12 months come the third week of March. Whatever reserves they had last year have been exhausted. Whatever pressure we put on the banks last year needs to be increased. They must adopt an even more compassionate and understanding approach. A proper moratorium must be put in place for individuals and businesses which will not cost that individual money. Banks should be offering breaks from repayments at the moment and extensions at the end when business returns to normal. There should also be extensions to people's loans or leases, with no extra charges or payment increases.

When businesses resumed trading at the back end of the year, banks came back looking for increased repayments from them and individuals. That cannot be allowed to happen and banks have to put a proper moratorium in place. This is the most essential work we need to do in the coming weeks. People are under significant mental pressure and strain because of their financial situation. Banks and leasing companies have to meet people and show them that they will share some of the financial hardship that Covid-19 is imposing on the.

A number of building sites are closed. Individual builders and building companies have started work on sites and have spent money on leasing machinery and so on for the sites. They have to stop work and in a lot of cases they have to transport that machinery back to their home bases, which involves a significant increase in costs. Again, the banks need to understand how these businesses are operating and give them a break without any affect on their credit ratings.

I also want to talk about tourism operators. Tourism coach operators have been among those worst-effected as a result of Covid-19. Some €10 million was allocated in the middle of last summer to be distributed through the bus tourism operators. None of those bus operators have got any of that money yet. I tabled parliamentary questions on this in recent weeks and it is disgraceful that this money has not been distributed to these hard-hit businesses.

Another group I want to talk about is track bookmakers who are not eligible for the CRSS. They have been told that because they do not have a permanent place of work, they do not qualify for the scheme. This is a small group of individuals who bought pitches at various racetracks around the country. It is their place of work and business and they have not been able to access that place of business since the third week of March. I brought this issue up previously and I urge the Minister to re-examine this and allow track bookmakers access to this scheme.

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