Dáil debates

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

7:55 pm

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Over the past week or so, there has been quite a volume of calls to my office from rural bus operators in County Donegal. They are querying what they see as the overly stringent nature of the qualifying criteria for the coach tourism business continuity scheme operated by Fáilte Ireland. Specifically, they feel aggrieved where, as stated in the guidelines, qualifying vehicles under this scheme must meet all of the following criteria: they must have been actively used by the applicant as of 30 March 2020 primarily for the carriage for reward of tourists by road under contracts for tourism transport; they must have been registered on or after 1 July 2013; the vehicle must have a valid certificate of insurance as at 13 March 2020; and the vehicle must be used primarily for the provision of transport services consisting of carriage for reward of tourists by road under contracts for group transport.

They feel that disqualification on the basis they operate buses that are deemed too old to qualify, or are not primarily used in coach tourism, is highly unfair to small rural operators who take on all types of work in order to survive. As they have outlined to me, they are an integral part of the tourism industry in County Donegal.

Over recent years, my own town of Killybegs, to take one example, has successfully worked to develop the cruise liner business. Our small rural operators have stepped up to the mark to service these tourists coming ashore for day trips within the county and wider north-west region. Without their commitment, this initiative would have died in its infancy as there would not have been the interest or financial incentive to attract large operators to this intermittent work. It was, therefore, the small guys who did and continue to do the heavy lifting.

Many have contracts for group transport and want to highlight that the age of their buses is not a problem with tour operators to whom they are contracted. It is simply that they could not justly describe it as the core work or the primary use of their vehicle.

For most, the tourism industry is unable to provide the level of work that would sustain them or their workers exclusively so, in addition, they provide service to a whole range of community needs such as the school transport scheme, local link, GAA clubs, etc.

These may seem insignificant or irrelevant to those who designed the scheme but they are vital services to our local rural communities. Yet, none of them alone could provide a sustainable income for a small rural operator. I am sure other Deputies in the House will agree with me that this is the same up and down the country.

If I was a cynical person, which I am not - although it is a test at times - I could be tempted to believe that, once again, the Government has purposefully set up a scheme designed to exclude many genuine operators within the tourism sector to drive down demand and, consequentially, the costs of the scheme. I am clear in my mind that the scheme does not recognise the reality of bus and coach operations in rural Ireland.

I also note the €10 million or so allocated to the scheme was far short of what the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland, CTTC, submitted would be required for such a scheme to the Minister. With the closing date fast approaching for the existing scheme, will the Minister give me some information and statistics on the take up of the scheme? Is she considering continuing it or a similar scheme? Will she look at amending it so as not to exclude those like the small rural bus and coach operators in County Donegal who play their part, which is a vital part, in the tourism industry? In summary, I call on the Minister to renew, review and properly fund the scheme.

Photo of Catherine MartinCatherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I am acutely aware of the devastating loss of business experienced by the coach tourism sector and the difficult environment it is working in. The impact of Covid-19 on tourism globally has been overwhelming and immediate with unprecedented consequences for Ireland's tourism and hospitality sector, including coach tourism. I fully appreciate the important role coach tourism plays as a vital component in supporting the wider tourism industry including hotels, restaurants, cafes and shops in all parts of the country.

Many coach tourism operators invested heavily in their fleet in anticipation of high levels of tourism in 2020. The onset of the pandemic wiped out most of their business overnight. In this context, I was pleased to make €10 million available as part of the Government's July stimulus to assist the sector through a business continuity scheme to be administered by Fåilte Ireland. Following consultation with the Coach Tourism Transport Council, the coach tourism business continuity scheme was launched last week.

The key qualifying criteria of the scheme are as follows: the scheme is targeted at coach tourism operators and must satisfy the conditions under the EU's Covid-19 state aid temporary framework; the coach tourism fleet must have been active in tourism as of 13 March 2020 and remain in the applicant's fleet at the date of application; the qualifying vehicles must be primarily used in coach tourism and have been purchased, leased or hired and registered on or after 1 July 2013; the applicant must intend to continue operating in coach tourism through 2021 with this fleet; and applicants must commit to completing and adhering to Fáilte Ireland's Covid-19 safety charter.

The criteria for age restrictions of vehicles is in line with the standards set by the CTTC and tour operators. In the development of the scheme, a number of criteria were considered to define the maximum age of the vehicle. The CTTC set the maximum age of vehicles suitable to operate in coach tourism at seven years. Tour operators stipulate in their contracts for the supply of vehicles that vehicles no older than five years should be used for general leisure clients and reduced to between two and three years for corporate and incentive travel. With that in mind, in the development of the scheme, two extra years were built in to allow for exceptional circumstances which would include very high-volume periods where a five-year-old coach was not available.

Budget 2021 included a number of substantial measures to support and strengthen the tourism sector. The measures introduced in the budget were informed by the tourism recovery plan which was prepared by the tourism recovery task force. The total funding for the tourism sector will increase in 2021 by more than €59 million, or 36%, over the initial 2020 allocation in budget 2020 to €220.9 million.

The funding will comprise of €179.9 million in current expenditure and €41 million in capital investment. Under budget 2021, I am providing €55 million for strategic tourism businesses to help them survive through the pandemic and be there to help drive the recovery. Combined with the Covid resilience support scheme, the VAT reduction and the rates waiver, the Government is helping to sustain the businesses that have been most severely affected by the necessary public health restrictions. In addition, investment in the tourism marketing fund has been maintained to ensure Ireland is in a postilion to recover quickly, when it is safe to do so, for tourists from our key markets.

On the Deputy's question about the take-up of the scheme, it only launched last week. I can get my officials to look into that for the Deputy but it has not yet been open for seven days. I will follow up on it with him.

8:05 pm

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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That is fair enough about the launch of the scheme.

The Minister outlined that she is providing additional money and so on but the reality is that in rural areas, coach operators operate a number of different varieties of transport, including school transport and so on. They supplement their income by doing different things. I know from contacts I have received that the tours they provide for do not stipulate that the coaches have to be less than five years old. They stipulate that they must be mechanically sound, safe, comfortable and things like that but there is not an age limit put on them. We are excluding an awful lot of operators from the operation of the scheme and from getting supports. They need support just like the big tour operators do. I am afraid this scheme has been developed for large tour operators and that what we are actually going to do is to push the small operators aside across the board. That is what I am afraid of, that is, that this crisis could end up as an opportunity for the big operators to consolidate and that the smaller operators will be squeezed out. The Minister needs to look at how the small operators can be supported as well. Perhaps a scheme could be designed particularly for them. If a small operator is using his bus 20% of the time for tourism, maybe there could be a grant for that 20% or something like that. That would recognise that they also have a vital role to play in the tourism sector and in developing it.

Photo of Catherine MartinCatherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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As I said, I am very aware of the difficulties being experienced by the coach tourism sector. I am mindful of their almost complete loss of earnings and am also cognisant of the very important role coach tourism plays in the tourism sector. As I said, the scheme opened last week and is being administered by Fáilte Ireland. I will revert to Fáilte Ireland and bring to its attention the concerns the Deputy has raised tonight.