Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for taking this very important Topical Issue this evening. Bunratty Castle in my constituency of Clare is almost 600 years old and King John's Castle in the neighbouring Limerick City constituency is almost 800 years old. These castles have withstood sieges, burnings and many battles waged outside their walls over the years. However, despite their physical bulk and durability, these castles and the beautiful folk park that adjoins Bunratty Castle do not, like many sectors of our economy, have the resilience to withstand the ravages of Covid-19.

Management of the Shannon Group that runs these sites through the Shannon Heritage company plans to close these sites early in January. It cites a massive downturn in international tourism, continuous loss-making since the onset of Covid-19 and the inability of the Government to underwrite the operational losses of a semi-State commercial company as the key reasons behind the imminent closure. These were the very same reasons that were to the fore last summer when the Shannon Group announced that from the end of August right up to the end of this year, Bunratty and King John's castles would be closed. Thankfully the Government intervened in late August and subsidised the incremental losses, thus keeping both sites open. This averted closure and prevented job losses. It is vital that the Government once again works with the Shannon Group to ensure that these sites do not close. They were once of strategic military importance to our ancestors and now they are of strategic tourism importance. The closure of both sites would be a massive blow to workers employed by Shannon Heritage and the domino effect on hotels, bars, restaurants and many others involved in the supply chain would be immeasurable. I call on the Minister to intervene urgently to save these sites from closure in January.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Crowe and I have already explained to the Government the central importance of these sites to the economy of the entire region. Thankfully, the Government listened and decided last August to provide funding to enable the sites to remain open. What is quite mysterious to me is the fact that the Government decided to allocate €2.4 million to keep those sites open but it has only been able to spend €700,000, which is about one quarter of what was originally allocated, for reasons that I do not have time to go into this evening. Seeing as there is €1.7 million unallocated, as it were, surely resources are available to the Government to keep those sites open and to preserve continuity of service on those sites which have acquired iconic status.

The Government must also be cognisant of the situation facing the workers at Shannon Heritage. Up until August, the prospect of being thrown on the unemployment scrapheap was hanging over their heads but due to political intervention, they got a reprieve. Now they are being told that come 30 December, the reprieve ends and the prospect of unemployment again looms large. Surely it would be better to have those people employed, providing a service and maintaining continuity on those sites rather than sitting at home, existing on social welfare payments. Where is the saving to the State in that? Those workers regard their jobs as a vocation more than a job and they are being treated in a very shabby way. I appeal to the Minister to give those workers some solace as the Christmas period approaches. I ask him to give them a reassurance that they will not be thrown onto the unemployment scrapheap in January and that the service being provided by Shannon Heritage at those sites will continue.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I am very pleased to respond to Deputies Cathal Crowe and O'Dea on this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin.

The management of Shannon Heritage sites, including their opening arrangements, is an operational matter for Shannon Heritage and Shannon Group plc, which is a commercial State body under the aegis of the Department of Transport. Shannon Heritage has a commercial mandate to manage a portfolio of tourism and heritage attractions in the mid-west region and Dublin. As Shannon Group operates in both the aviation and tourism sectors, it has been severely impacted by Covid-19.

Budget 2021 includes a number of substantial measures to support and strengthen the tourism sector. Those measures are supplemented by economy-wide business supports and social welfare measures. 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. Combined with other measures such as the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, and the rates waiver, the Government is helping to sustain businesses that have been most severely affected by the necessary public health restrictions. As part of the budget package of measures, €55 million has been provided for business continuity schemes for strategic tourism businesses to help them survive through the pandemic and contribute towards driving the recovery. This funding will be administered by Fáilte Ireland and focused on strategic businesses. Fáilte Ireland is currently engaging with the tourism sector in the design of funding schemes, taking into account the effect of other horizontal funding measures.

In addition, the VAT rate for the sector has been reduced to 9%, which will improve the competitiveness and viability of businesses. Funding of €5 million has been provided for focused upskilling training to support business survival and recovery in the sector and the improvement of the digital presence and e-commerce capability of tourism businesses. Investment in the tourism marketing fund has been maintained to ensure that Ireland is in a position to recover quickly, when it is safe for tourists to return from our key markets.

In response to the impacts of Covid-19, the Government has put in place a range of supports to help business and citizens face the challenges presented by the global pandemic. I understand that Shannon Group, including Shannon Heritage, has benefited from these horizontal supports, which include the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, its predecessor, the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, the rates waiver and VAT warehousing. The tourism recovery task force undertook a comprehensive analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on the sector and drew up a recovery plan containing more than 30 recommendations across a number of areas designed to help the sector to survive and recover from the crisis out to 2023. Its short-term recommendations informed the sector-specific measures adopted in the budget. To help inform our ongoing response to the pandemic, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will shortly appoint an oversight group to monitor the implementation of the recovery plan and the recovery of the tourism sector in general.

In regard to Shannon Heritage specifically, a commitment was made by the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, to provide funding to ensure that Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and King John's Castle, which were due to close at the end of August, could remain open to the end of 2020, subject to public health measures. It is open to Shannon Heritage to explore further the various support mechanisms now available. I encourage it to liaise with Fáilte Ireland on the State supports of which it may be able to avail.

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. The tourism industry in its entirety has been decimated by the Covid-19 crisis and the sector will take the longest to recover. Overcoming the challenges faced by the sector as a whole will be instrumental in driving economic recovery, particularly in rural areas.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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One of the Shannon Heritage employees to whom I spoke today said, "We want to work". The employees are hungry to work and everything should be done to save jobs and keep the heritage sites in the mid-west open. I want to know whether the Government will offer a continuance of the supports it made available to Shannon Group and Shannon Heritage last August. The Minister's response suggests that this mechanism may be open once again and I ask that he offer clarity in this regard. In addition, will the Government consider applying to the EU for a damages schemes for the heritage sector in order that specific ring-fenced supports may be put in place for the likes of King John's Castle in Limerick city and Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in County Clare? Furthermore, I ask that the Minister look at ways of funding the considerable obligations Shannon Group has in maintaining old castle buildings at a high annual cost. Shannon Group has advanced plans for a major capital project for Bunratty Castle and Folk Park costing €40 million. The hope is that State supports from Fáilte Ireland to the tune of approximately 75% of the cost will get the project over the line. I hope the Minister and the Government will do everything possible to ensure it can be delivered.

I conclude by saying that there will be life after Covid. The country is about to turn a corner. Vaccines are imminent and the economy has been supported throughout the past few months. In the meantime, when Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, King John's Castle and all the people working there and in the supply chain need our support more than ever, I ask the Government to have their back.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister's response indicates that we are in the same position now as we were last August. At that time, the Government was prepared to allocate €2.4 million to ensure the continued operation of the sites in question. Only €700,000 of that has been drawn down, which brings us up to Christmas. What is the problem with allocating some more of that money now to keep those sites going from January until April, when they would usually open? Is it more desirable to lose continuity and have people sitting at home drawing social welfare rather than providing a service in King John's Castle, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and other sites? As I said, the treatment of these workers has been quite indefensible. They have been buffeted from pillar to post, with redundancy looming one day, followed by a reprieve. Now redundancy is looming for them once again. Can the Minister provide some solace for these workers as we approach Christmas?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I hope I can do so. The key solace is, first, that we hope to get out of level 5. King John's Castle has been closed since the level 3 restrictions were introduced. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park has some limited outdoor activities but it also had to close once level 5 restrictions were introduced. Those restrictions, more than anything else, have been a significant factor in the closures over recent months. We do not know what will happen in the new year but we hope, please God, as Deputy Cathal Crowe said, that we will start to see our way out of this pandemic. That is the first and key source of solace.

I absolutely agree with the Deputies on the importance of these two sites for the regional tourism sector. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media but it seems to me, in reading the response, that the €55 million fund that Fáilte Ireland will be managing for specific key, strategic tourism businesses may well be the best avenue in terms of getting support funding for operations as we start to recover.

As Minister for Transport, I have a keen interest in this area because both sites are operated and managed by Shannon Group, which is connected to enterprises at Shannon Airport and the industrial estate. Most Deputies will be aware that it is not just the workers in Shannon Heritage who are in real difficulties. The wider group, because of what has happened to the aviation sector, is in significant trouble. We have to look at this in the round. In that context, I encourage the Deputies, as I know they already are, to engage with Shannon Heritage on the best strategic response as well as in respect of the immediate support mechanisms which the Government is willing, and has been willing at every stage, to provide in order to support businesses. I would argue that one of the issues we need to think about right now is the wider strategic future for the likes of King John's Castle and Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, which we want to see thrive again. We must give thought to the best structural way of doing that, given the ongoing difficulties with the entire group as a consequence of the Covid-19 crisis.