Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

I congratulate the Acting Chairman on his appointment as president of the wonderful golf club in Killarney, which is a great honour for him and his family.

Who can pay €20 per hour? One can visit France, Portugal or Spain where there is guaranteed sunshine. All we have in Ireland is the céad míle fáilte, the welcomes, the beautiful scenery, the countryside and the good food and accommodation. There should be a suspension of whatever agreements are in place.

Last Sunday three weeks, I arrived in Dublin Airport. I tried to get lunch in six hotels nearby the airport, but not one of them was serving lunch on a Sunday and I could not believe it. In the end I asked a person in a hotel in Liffey Valley, who recommended that I go to the Deadman's Inn, a pub, because there is a lovely lunch there. It was beautiful and fabulous, because there is a different wages regime. Why is the hotelier being penalised? Why are the people willing to work, to avail of work and have their employment next door to where they live penalised? Some common sense should prevail in respect of this penalty, because everything is in place. Restaurants are in place for six days of the week and cannot open on Sunday because of wage costs. It is impossible to break even. These are some of the points I wished to make. I sincerely hope something can be done with energy costs, because they are a real penalty and many people are hurting very badly because of them. They will influence whether some establishments will remain open for November, December, January and February this coming Winter and Spring.