Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to respond. The Senator is right. The working groups of the VFI and the RAI, under Mr. Adrian Cummins, have been working tirelessly since the start of the pandemic. At all times they have approached it in a very measured format of what is right for their industry, the employers and the associated employees. There is a great deal of stress attached to this at present. There is no doubt about that. The Senator and I are from Galway and we know that the businesses are under incredible pressure. Basically, people want to get back to work. They want to get back in to meet their customers and so forth. However, the most important thing that arose from the Senator's Commencement matter this morning is that this new working group on finding a way forward for indoor dining and which includes the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, the Department of the Taoiseach and the industry is very welcome at this time. There is a real commitment in the Government to finding a workable, sustainable solution so there will not be stops and starts and we can take it into the future.

Finally, it is important to point out that there will be no cliff edge financially for the supports for these businesses. That is the one thing the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, asked me to articulate this morning. There will be no cliff edge for businesses.