Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday, we learned of the liquidation of Stobart Air with more than 420 job losses as well as the potential loss of air connectivity on the island and between Ireland and the UK. Media reports over the weekend suggest that a strategic review is under way at Lufthansa Technik in Shannon and related companies. Approximately 500 people work there and there is real concern as to what the review will hold for them. All of this comes on the back of the recent announcement by Aer Lingus that it will close its crew base at Shannon Airport. There is no timeline for the return of services at the airport and there will be a similar reduction of services at Cork Airport.

This is a sobering reminder that notwithstanding the roll-out of the vaccine and the end of the pandemic being in sight, many businesses, particularly in the aviation and hospitality sectors, will not come out of lockdown the way they went in. It looks like it will take many years for those sectors to recover. Unfortunately, we are not seeing the kind of engagement from Government that is necessary to give certainty, security and some degree of confidence to the aviation sector in particular. We seem to be taking a wait and see approach, which is not good enough, quite frankly, either for the people employed in the sector or for those who will be affected if we lose key connectivity. I acknowledge the Leader is doing her best but I ask her to organise a debate in this House on an action plan from the Government to assist the recovery of the aviation sector.

Finally, others have mentioned the issue of defective blocks and the impact this has had on people's lives. In County Clare, there is pyrite in the blocks and I know from speaking to members of the group from Clare that they will be in Dublin tomorrow to highlight this issue. It is devastating for families to see their homes that they lovingly built and created crumbling around them. We must stop the penny pinching. There must be 100% redress for these people. They are expected to leave their homes for up to 18 months while they are rebuilt but are only being offered 90% of the cost, with no support towards rent. This is outrageous. We must stop the bean counters buried in the bowels of Departments from ruling the heads, minds and hearts of the Government. We were able to borrow money quickly when we needed to when the pandemic struck. Let us keep that simple ethos in place to address a crisis like this.