Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Casey in his remarks about supports to business. The fundamental point is that if you talk to people who work in hospitality, they will tell you that the summer months are their season of opportunity in terms of employment and being able to buffer against the winter. Senator Casey is right. Notwithstanding that winter is bleak, it is bleak in the hospitality sector because it is their shoulder season and their off season. If we are to avoid the cliff edge, we must look at how we can support the industry.

What does the cliff edge actually mean in the context of the hospitality sector? For me, there are four parts to it. One is the imminent announcement of the full reopening of our hospitality sector, which I welcome. This will be significant and will give further employment opportunity. Second, August and the rest of July is when there will be an opportunity for the industry to benefit. As we speak, the Oireachtas transport committee is having a hearing and briefing on the roll-out of the EU digital green certificate, or Covid certificate. The point I am making, which is that we must be ready to allow the hospitality sector to succeed and to have business coming in, does not relate solely to the Minister of State's Department but is part of the whole cross-sectional departmental approach.

The other two parts relate to what will happen in the autumn, when our children will go back to school and there will be a certain element of internal travel and, hopefully, notwithstanding the variants that are arising, international travel. As part of this process, I hope we will see a campaign to advertise that Ireland is open and has a product that can be availed of. The fourth part relates to the point Senator Casey referenced and I will allude to again, which is that two thirds of jobs in the hospitality sector have been lost or are seen as vulnerable. As Senator Casey said, the extension of the different supports, which are very much welcomed by those in the industry, is what we need a Government answer on. The Long Title of the Bill states that its purpose is "to make provision for supports to employers and certain businesses". That is why it is important that the Government engages not just after today's reopening plan, but in the context of what happens in January or even in November and December.

I have met small business people, hoteliers and restaurateurs who are really worried. They have saved for the rainy day. Other political viewpoints would see these people as very rich, but many of them saved for the rainy day in order to carry out renovations or upgrades to their businesses and to keep people employed. Perhaps the Minister of State can come back to us in the context of how we can emerge from the pandemic and, as Senator Casey said, avoid that cliff edge.