Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the House that there will be no shortage of socks or other items of clothing in the country.

I thought we were having a discussion on Covid but as the Leas-Chathaoirleach said it is about reopening Ireland. It is apt and I hope this prediction is right. We are all focused on trying to reopen and it is important the Seanad is debating how can we reopen safely. Much of the work over the past couple of weeks has been on getting to a stage in which we can reopen parts of our economy and society.

We all recognise how Covid has put much pressure on many parts of our country. It has been a difficult time across every one of our counties. We often debate regional balance here. Covid hit all of us everywhere, our homes and businesses. Everybody is suffering. Hopefully, with all the talk of the roll-out of vaccines and vaccination programmes, we should be in a strong position during 2021 and get back to some sort of a normal life.

Much change will occur as we reopen. Certain parts of business will have changed forever. We need to work with that sector. It is important we focus our minds over the next couple of days to be in a position next week to have retail back, along with hairdressers, barbers, gyms and other businesses which have been under pressure. There is still a significant conversation around the hospitality sector, restaurants, cafes, pubs and hotels.

The Department would rather not be in level 5. Moving to these restrictions was not an easy choice to take. The Tánaiste spoke about this, as did the Taoiseach and many others. We wanted to do our best to avoid level 5 which is why we stayed at level 3 for several weeks, hoping it would make the difference. However, it did not work out. Everyone hoped, when we published the plan back in the summer, that level 3 would be as far as we had to go. The figures did not go that way and we had to protect people's health and livelihoods in the long term.

Many people said to me that the hospitals were not under that much pressure and the ICU bed numbers were steady when they analysed the figures. We do not want people in hospital or ICU with Covid as it is not the place to be. We all know the percentages of people who do not come back out of ICU. It was not just keeping the numbers in hospital down. It was to keep people from getting sick and to stop our loved ones and family members from contracting Covid unnecessarily. It is not a nice place to be. We all have stories of neighbours, friends and family members who contracted Covid and suffered its consequences. Far too many families are without loved ones this year because of Covid.

Many politicians understand that it is about getting the balance right to have a functioning society and economy, as well as managing Covid and bringing the virus under control. The decision was made five weeks ago to move to level 5 to bring the virus back under control. The figures we have seen over the past three or four nights show it is coming under control. It does not mean we are there yet, however. The Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and many others have said that we had hoped to be a little further down the road. To have a consistent figure of 200 cases over three or four nights is a good place to be as we go through our plans to reopen. Hopefully, these figures will keep going down.

When we reopen, however, it will be more difficult to manage the virus. The best way to deal with the virus is to manage our own behaviour but also to limit our number of contacts. When we reopen various parts of the economy, there will be more contacts. The onus is on everyone to adjust their behaviour to ensure when we reopen that we tread carefully, use caution and follow the best guidance to stop the virus spreading among us.

The Health and Safety Authority updated the back at work safely protocol which contains much guidance which retail and business are following to protect themselves, their employees and customers. The various committees are meeting today and the Cabinet will meet tomorrow to dissect the advice from NPHET and work out the plans. We are all hopeful that tomorrow will bring good news for many parts of the country. It does not mean all restrictions will be lifted but we will be in a much better place than we are today. Hopefully, we can build on that in the weeks ahead. The protocols and guidance are important.

We all know at this stage how to protect ourselves and our loved ones. One gets mixed reactions in any business, factory and family homes. Some are worried and nervous for themselves and their families. Some are less cautious and are not as convinced about the concerns. It is hard to have rules, regulations and laws which bring us all together on this. The majority of people have come with us on this journey and it is their behaviour that has helped us bring the virus back under control. Governments can only give advice and put legislation in place to direct us all in a certain way.Sometimes, that means stepping in a little more than we would like to do but, in general, people want to do the right thing and follow the advice, and they are doing that. That is the reason, as a country, we have saved lives and hopefully will be able to get through the months ahead with fewer restrictions when it comes to Covid-19.

I want to touch on a couple of issues. People are probably familiar with all the business supports. I will not name all of them. Sectors and businesses have said to me say that the wage subsidy scheme is probably the most important one. We have spoken about that in this House on a number of occasions. All the Members put forward suggestions about additional supports for business. The Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, came out of their suggestions and ongoing support to businesses whose premises are closed. That scheme is up and running and will be very successful in terms of companies that are under pressure. We also have the restart grant, the rates rebate and other different supports. I have stressed in previous debates here that the support would not all be in the form of grants but that we would encourage businesses to use their own equity, tap into some of the loan products at the lower cost rates, as well as grants because the taxpayers cannot replace every lost euro. We all wish they could but that is not reality. It is about that blend of supports - lower cost finance, grants, rate subsidies and CRSS payments - coming together along with businesses having to tap into their own equity in some cases.

I want to single out the retail sector, which is my main line responsibility apart from business in general. We have worked very closely with those in the retail sector and they are vitally important to this country in the service they provide. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic many of those in the retail sector have been on the front line, as well as all those in the health authorities and so on, but retail is very much there. Where they were allowed stay open they stayed open and provided a top-class service to all of us. They put all the changes in place, adapted their work practices, changed their shop models and so on to be able to serve us in a safe way. I recognise that has been a very difficult journey for them and they are under a great deal of pressure. I would shout out to everybody to listen to our campaign to shop local if they can possibly do so and to spread their business around to support local businesses and local jobs as much as possible during the months and the year ahead. We have launched a LookforLocal campaign to encourage people to do that. It is important that we do that.

As a sector, I hope they will be open next week because there is a very busy month ahead. We will support them on this journey and have done but they will need the Members' support also. As we move into 2021 and beyond there will be a massive opportunity for the retail sector to expand even further. Some of that will be online, Covid or no Covid, to try to win back some of the business that we know goes abroad but also to try to win business from abroad. I believe we have a very strong retail sector that can do that. That is something on which I will be working very closely with them. We have a retail forum that meets practically every week at this stage and all the representative bodies of the retail sector are on that and contribute. They have been a major asset to us as a Department and as a Government in managing the Covid pandemic but also in preparing for Brexit.

We are looking to a difficult year ahead in terms of trying to manage Brexit and get through and come out of the Covid pandemic. I appreciate the support of this House for all the various business schemes and supports that have been put in place. They have been essential. Business owners have told me they looked abroad and saw what was going on and they realise the support these two Houses have provided, by using taxpayers' money through the Government supports, has been a major help. They are still under a lot of pressure, however, and we have to continue those business supports. The Tánaiste, in his speech in the Dáil, referred to having money secured for next year to continue with the supports where they are needed and to roll out new ones, and new ideas, where that is necessary. In addition to what has been allocated in the budget for next year, and our Department got a decent increase to allow us be able to do our work better, including extra money for the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, to manage all this in terms of safety at work, there is an extra €3.4 billion in the recovery fund, which has not been allocated yet but can be drawn down as we need it for different parts of the business world that need those supports also.

I am here mainly to listen to the Members' contributions, as well as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's comments, but we hope to be in a position tomorrow to announce the reopening of many parts of our society and businesses but there is still much work to do. I want to reinforce the message that we have to manage our own behaviour in the months ahead. Just because the virus numbers have decreased a lot it is still around and it could very easily flare up again. If we all play our part we should be able to limit that and if we are all in a healthy place and get the virus under control we can get back to having a strong, healthy economy. I am an optimist, as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows, even in mad times and even when it comes to football, and I am very optimistic about where our economy can go in the next couple of years.

To refer back to retail, there is a lot of opportunity in that sector if we can just get through this very difficult year that most people probably want to forget about but it is important that we look ahead with hope. I hope that with strong supports from the economy and strong actions by the Government and these Houses, we can do that.