Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government has put a massive amount of investment into supporting business through an unprecedented and difficult time. As we head into the spring of 2022, it is essential to continue that support. There are businesses that are still seriously affected and their costs of doing business have increased substantially. In the hospitality sector the way the Covid restrictions are still operating, and necessarily so as we see the level of Covid in the country, is increasing labour costs for those businesses. It is essential that this is kept in mind in the last quarter of 2021 and as we head into 2022. We have done a massive amount to keep businesses afloat and we must go the final leg of the journey to ensure that the financial support that is necessary for the hospitality sector and other sectors that are still affected by Covid restrictions remains in place. It would be a shame, after the huge amount of money we have put into the economy, if we failed to finish the last piece of the jigsaw as we hopefully overcome Covid once and for all. Those businesses just have to be kept afloat until we get back to normality.

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