Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. This is an important debate because I do not have any confidence that we will be ready to have the EU travel certificate. I have no confidence whatever about it. I listened to Professor Ferguson at the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks this week. There has been no interaction between him and the Government and yet he chaired the expert group for the Government.

I commend the Minister of State on his work. The Covid-19 travel certificate is important to us as an island nation and it is coming. The European Parliament has passed it and it is here. It is incumbent on the Government to be ready.

Senator McDowell expressed remarks on certain people who should not re-evaluate the events of Covid-19. I do not have any confidence in our being ready for the EU Covid-19 certificate. I hope I am wrong and I want to be wrong. I recall the contribution of Senator Dooley at the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks. Some 150,000 people, including 40,000 in the aviation sector, are threatened and affected by this. This is of immense importance, as the Minister of State knows well. I want us to understand that connectivity is critical to us from the perspectives of the tourist as well as the aviation and travel industries.

As an aside, we have credit card companies hawking on travel agents looking for inordinate amounts of money. This was raised at the joint committee by representatives of the Irish Travel Agents Association this week. Something is wrong or amiss.

Covid-19 is changing the world and the way we travel and we must be ready for that. I attended a virtual meeting with representatives of the International Air Transport Association. They have a clear request of the Government on being prepared for a restart, on preparation for recovery, on employment support and on cost containment.

The other pressing part is the whole issue of antigen testing. Professor Ferguson made that point at the committee this week.

We have a lead-in period. We must be ready; we have to be. I want the Minister of State to leave here today under no impression but that as a nation, we must be ready to have this certification. As Senator Doherty said, jobs and livelihoods depend on it not only in Dublin but in Cork and Shannon as well.

I wish the Minister of State well in his brief. He has done a major job thus far as the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs. My comments are not critical of him in any shape or form. I want us to be able to say to the international world that we are back and open in June, July or whenever this comes into being. I want the Government to engage with Professor Ferguson's group and the travel agents who have had to endure an onslaught from the credit card companies, which have been seeking large cash deposits when they are already bonded.