Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's response and the many measures being taken to address the difficulties facing many businesses throughout the country. All of those measures are very welcome. It all helps. I am speaking as a representative of the people of County Kerry where tourism accounts for a significant portion of overall economic activity. Fáilte Ireland's figure of 12%, for example, would be higher in Kerry. We have taken a huge number of refugees and people seeking international protection. This is coming off the back of three extremely challenging years, in 2020, 2021 and into 2022, as a result of Covid-19. We have had an extremely challenging time for our economic base.

One estimate last June showed that Killarney, for example, had lost €100 million as a result of displacement of accommodation beds. That was only up to last June. This is the scale of the problem. Government schemes need to be in that type of league in order to address this problem. That is only for one town. Other towns such as Dingle, Kenmare and Tralee are also suffering. This is the scale involved and the context in which I raise this matter. While I welcome all of the measures, we have found ourselves in an extraordinary situation since March 2022 in particular and there has to be the extraordinary response from the Government to assist these businesses.

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