Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Martin, for coming to the House. As she is well aware, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on the lives of everyone in this country. From an economic standpoint, no sector has been hit harder than tourism.The sector has experienced a €6 billion decline in revenue and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. As the Minister will be aware, it has essentially been shut down for the entire year. The tourism sector was worth €9.3 billion to the economy in 2019, with 10 million overseas tourists coming here. We have been particularly affected in Galway, and in Galway city especially, due to the cancellation of a number of events. As the Minister will be well aware, 2020 would have brought the European Capital of Culture to our city and there was enormous expenditure on that event. I ask her and her staff to examine the expenditure for that event as it certainly seemed excessive. I was a councillor for 11 years and I am very familiar with the city.

The supports the Government has put in place, including the CRSS, are very welcome. Senator Casey outlined the tax debt warehousing and the business continuity scheme, which are welcome, but we now need to consider how the sector can be assisted with its reopening. It is of paramount importance that the domestic tourism sector be fully opened by the end of June. It is vital that it is fully operational without restrictions when the secondary schools go on holidays. Funding has been set aside for local authorities to roll out supports, which is welcome, and I ask for urgency in that regard.

Based on my experience within the industry, a major issue in the hospitality sector is the loss of experienced and skilled personnel. That is particularly relevant in my city of Galway because people are going to work in the medical device companies such as Medtronic and Boston Scientific. That is going to be a huge issue. We will find it very hard to get qualified, serious head chefs and hospitality managers. I have a suggestion for the Minister on this matter. We need to give consideration to providing Government funding for the development of an online learning programme, which could speed up the development for new employees and might bring back some of the old employees, who will be hopefully needed in these sectors as soon as we recover. We have a family business in Galway that has been there for four generations and the staff are who we are. One cannot be there all the time oneself, as Senator Casey alluded to earlier. It is hugely challenging for all businesses but it is a particular issue for businesses that need a number of chefs and managers. I ask the Minister to come up with a couple of solutions to that problem. We could run an online course to see if we could attract the relevant people we require. The Minister is aware of that.

The 9% VAT rate should be extended for the lifetime of this Government. There are thousands of jobs in jeopardy. We need to look at all VAT rates across the hospitality sector. That would give us a fighting chance at surviving a crisis which is not of our making.