Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome back to the House my colleagues, Senators Horkan and Maria Byrne, and congratulate them on their re-election. I commiserate with the people who put their names forward and were not successful, including two former Members.

Will the Deputy Leader ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to come back to the House? We had a great debate some weeks ago on tourism and sport. As several speakers have noted, it is very important that, as the economy opens up, we focus particularly on wet pubs, restaurants and the entertainment sector. We need a special debate on these issues. This is an area where a lot of young people are employed. Up to 30% of young people are not working at this time and there are no outlets for them. They cannot go to the US or the UK and will remain based in Ireland. It is very important that we open up as many small businesses as possible, including wet pubs, restaurants, gastropubs, tourism projects and entertainment services. The Minister should come back to the House to hear what we have to say and discuss what we can do to help those small businesses get back to employing people and providing a service.

Finally, the proposals regarding green certificates are very important as we move ahead, not just for the aviation sector but for tourism in general.