Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for her detailed and excellent response. I wish to make a few points, and the Minister of State will know where I am coming from with regard to the frustration. The notion of the hospitality sector having to police who is coming into a premises to ensure that only vaccinated people do so is just not going to work. I do not see it working, to be honest. I understand that representative bodies such as the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, VFI, the Licensed Vintners Association, LVA, and the Restaurants Association of Ireland, RAI, which the Minister of State will be very familiar with and with Mr. Adrian Cummins working day and night, are working with the Government on this. That is what has to be done to reopen indoor hospitality. Naturally, we all welcome that. I acknowledge that the Government has put unprecedented supports in place, but they must continue and more will probably be needed if the sector will not be able to reopen. Otherwise, jobs will be lost in the long run and the sector will not survive the crisis. I appreciate that the hospitality sector stimulus is likely to be some time down the line and probably for next year, but a portion of that must be earmarked in some way for bars and restaurants which only provide indoor hospitality and which have been shut for the past 15 months.