Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I congratulate my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, whom I have known for a very long time. I know his suitability for the job at hand. It is a difficult job in the current climate.

The funds set out in this proposed legislation are important for a couple of reasons. At last it seems that we are seeing some level of solidarity right across the European Union in addressing this issue. I and others have commented in this Parliament, not in this House, on the failure of our European Union colleagues to show solidarity during the banking collapse a decade ago. Ireland was made to carry the can and shoulder a lot of the responsibility, as citizens and taxpayers, for decisions that were taken elsewhere relating to moneys that were borrowed on the international markets from other countries. We had to pay all of that back without any support. On this occasion it seems there is a level of solidarity because the crisis is more recognisable in other countries, and I welcome that. I put it to the Minister of State, that where there is a loan element to small businesses it is important that the interest rate charged is commensurate with the interest rate paid by the State. We know that €100 billion can be borrowed at very low rates, probably below 0%, which is a rather new concept to a lot of people. We cannot see a situation where the moneys trickle through to the pillar banks for them to charge interest rates in the 4% or 5% space. Based on his very clear knowledge of small and medium enterprises I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, will ensure this does not happen, be it through these or other funds.

At this stage we need immediate support for the sectors that are most affected by Covid-19. I know of no sector more affected than tourism. Normally Ireland would experience some 11 million inbound tourists annually. I do not know what the number will be this year but I would say it will not top 500,000, based on what is happening, and probably even less. Some people suggest that the domestic tourism market will compensate. It will not. At best, some 2 million or 3 million people leave the State each year to take holidays. If all those people stay at home I estimate we will still have a net deficit of 8 million tourists. This will have a detrimental impact on businesses throughout the State and especially in rural areas where tourism is the lifeblood of so many communities. Today I met with a number of jarveys and people involved in the horse and pony trekking industry. These industries are on their knees. Normally the business they get from the American market would have them very busy at this time of the year. A group of them are on their way to Dublin today, not to protest but to be heard and to set out for the Government a clear picture of what they are experiencing. Sean Kilkenny and his family are friends of mine going back many years.He is a young man who has built a great business around the visitors who come to Dromoland Castle. He has in the region of 40 horses. He provides pony trekking, horse trekking and carriage rides principally for the American market. It is a wonderful tourist attraction and a great business. He employs locals and it had been working very well. They were coming under significant pressure from the insurance sector. I understand that there is now no insurance company prepared to insure that business. They are in real trouble from that perspective. Obviously the lack of tourists puts them under enormous pressure. We have to find a way to address the insurance business in the first instance, which falls under the Minister of State's stewardship. The former Minister, Senator D'Arcy, will have a very clear understanding of that. We have to provide support to people who find themselves in such positions. Mr. Kilkenny does not fall under the current scheme because he is not a ratepayer, but he pays rent. The €350 Covid payment is not much to support him and his family but it is certainly not enough to feed 40 horses. I say this by way of the understanding of a small business that needs to ride out this storm, if Senators will pardon the pun. We will get beyond Covid and find a solution to that problem, whether by way of a cure or something else that will happen. A vaccine may be developed. We cannot allow these little businesses to die in a ditch in the intervening period.

Let us look at this in a holistic way. It is good that there is an arrangement from a European perspective. It is good that the money is coming. Let us ensure that the money trickles down and gets to the people who really need it.