Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Senators Gavan, Dooley, Garvey and Conway raised the Shannon Heritage issue. Like many tourism attractions, I am aware of the massive challenges it faces. As it is a subsidiary of Shannon Airport, it is under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I will work closely with him on this. He is looking at financial issues with Shannon Airport and will bring recommendations to the Government with regard to these in due course.

Fáilte Ireland will be assisting tourism attractions through the adaptation grant. I am aware of the impact this is having on the entire region, as well as how critical it is to it. I will do what I can under my remit to assist with the reopening of these sites.

Senator McGreehan spoke about beautiful Louth. She was like an advertisement for the county. I am a frequent visitor to Slieve Gullion and Carlingford Lough. I will be there in the next few weeks, as I often am with my family and friends. Border tourism has already been threatened by Brexit and was a focus for Fáilte Ireland before the Covid crisis. I grew up on the Border. I will be attending the North-South Ministerial Council and liaising with the Minister, Diane Dodds. I will be collaborating and co-ordinating every which way possible. It is a priority. Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland are working on joining up initiatives such as the Causeway Coast and the Wild Atlantic Way. I would like to see much more of this.

On the Gaeltacht areas to which Senator Ó Donnghaile referred, I have a grá for Gaeilge myself. Last week, I provided €8 million in capital funding to Údarás na Gaeltachta. I want see factories and buildings repurposed and supported to encourage people to stay and work in Gaeltacht areas, helping to build them up. I provided funding under arts to Ealaín na Gaeltachta. I will do whatever I can to support our beautiful language, our native tongue and the Gaeltacht areas.

Many Senators brought up the issue of VAT and the voucher scheme. We saw stay-and-spend as the quickest way to get a scheme up and running. It is also more efficient and less costly for a business to administer compared with a redeeming voucher. It has a wide application with up to 2.8 million people being able to avail of it. It is about encouraging demand. The reason that specific timeframe from October to April was targeted was because it is off-season. When I engaged with stakeholders, they said that was when they really needed the support to get them through Christmas.

The scheme will not be administratively cumbersome. Some Senators referred to the filing of paperwork involved in the scheme. It will actually be operated through a downloadable Revenue mobile phone app. We envisage one goes to a restaurant or a hotel and one takes a photograph there and then. That is how easy it will be. It was about making it as easy as possible to support our restaurants, coffee shops and hotels.

At the level of individual taxpayer, the relief on accommodation and food, including soft drinks but not alcohol, it is a minimum spend of €25 per person per time with a maximum spend limit of €625 over the lifetime of the scheme. The taxpayer will take the photograph. One will get 20% of the voucher costs through the income tax maximum credit of €125 per person. The tax credit may be set against a claimant's USC liability where he or she does not have a sufficient income tax liability to fully absorb the tax credit in the year of assessment.Senators Garvey and Conway spoke of the lights of the Banner county. I can let Senator Garvey know that my family will be going there in the next few weeks. We will go to Clare and are looking forward to it. We intend to spend a lot of time there, we are walkers and my husband and I look forward to exploring the Burren with our three children. I look forward to meeting the Senator in person when I am there.