Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House for this debate at such short notice. I wish the Minister, Deputy Martin Cullen, well in his recovery. He is in hospital at present. As the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, is in Los Angeles; I am grateful to the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary, for his attendance. I also thank the senior officials for attending. I had to lean on them in the past 48 hours because I had made a commitment on the Order of Business on Tuesday to hold this debate owing to the pressure on the hotel industry. It is make or break for the industry.

I welcome the Government's commitment that it will continue to work with the industry to help it manage its way through the current difficulties. The most important challenge facing the industry is access to credit, as the Minister of State pointed out. It is a real difficulty across the economy, including for the hotel sector. The Minister of State went on to say the Government's NAMA strategy was central to the goal of restoring a stable and functioning banking system which is creating a major problem for hotels. The Government is establishing a credit appeal system which will allow SMEs, including those in the tourism industry, to appeal a credit application that has been refused. This will provide a valuable independent resource for businesses. The system will require a number of staff because practically all credit applications are being refused.

Over 300,000 people are employed in the tourism industry, which emphasises its importance. A total of 75% of all businesses in Ireland are family-run. Many of these family businesses will not go into NAMA. The trophy hotels will. The objective of this debate is to find out what the Government will do for family-run businesses and the people who, for generations, have been maintaining and improving standards. There have been incredible improvements in standards in tourism-related facilities run by families, particularly in the last ten to 15 years. The difficulty for the hotel sector in the South is that there is a government guarantee scheme in place for the sector in Northern Ireland.

The hotel industry is a huge employer. A hotel, regardless of how many stars it has, will employ from to 40 to 150 people. This is true of hotels in the most remote areas, as well as in towns and cities. What will be done in the short term to help hotels? What can this debate, for which the Minister of State has made himself available, do to help the industry in the next few months? The last two winters have been an appalling disaster for hotels. New hoteliers who include the children to whom parents have passed on their hotels have no response to it because they do not have the support of their banks. The credit line is the problem. The difficulty in the last two years is that their reserves have been run down by the difficult winter months of November, December, January and February.

There is a state guarantee in place in Great Britain and Northern Ireland with a ceiling of £350,000. Up to 75% of the guarantee can be availed of to give an overdraft facility that carries the hotel over the winter months. The hotels I am referring are not fly-by-night concerns or trophy hotels. They have good bookings for their eight month season. They do not owe the banks much money and are employing a huge number of people. However, the guarantee scheme in the North is a serious challenge for hotels in Dublin and in any area within 100 miles of Northern Ireland. Hotels in the North have a huge advantage over those in the South. I hope NAMA will not be used to beat the family-run hotels. They offer the céad mile fáilte Senator Quinn mentioned. As an artist, I performed on the stage in Red Island Holiday Camp when Senator Quinn's late father was running it. It was a pleasure to go to premises where the attitude was to win and the training of the staff was top class. The Irish welcome was abundantly evident and there was repeat business every year.

We must grow the tourism industry. As Senator Mooney said, it is one of the three main industries in which Ireland can increase employment and get people back to work. The potential income for the Government is absolutely huge. I call on the Government to urgently consider its policy with regard to the guaranteed scheme in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Another point must be made. There is no time for rates for hotels and guesthouses to be reviewed. They must be reduced immediately. It is unbelievable we have to wait up to four more years. Before a hotelier opens the door, he or she must pay €3,000 a week in local authority charges. That is unacceptable and unsustainable. The hotel might be employing 40 to 100 people, yet it is asked to pay €3,000 a week in rates and water charges. That is not fair, particularly during the downturn in the global economy. These hotels are employing and training huge numbers of staff. The hotel sector is an area earmarked for future growth in turning the economy around and getting income back into the Exchequer.

I welcome the Solheim Cup golf event to be held here next year. The attention of the world and the golfing fraternity will be on it, through CNN, CBS, Sky Sports and others. I congratulate everybody concerned.

I thank Members for making it possible to hold this special debate on the urgency attached to dealing with the problems being encountered by family-run hotels.