Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply but the definition of a cliff edge is it is there one day and not there the next. That is exactly what he is describing on 31 December. The EWSS will come to an end. I will speak to this from a practical point of view. When Covid hit us, the wage subsidy scheme allowed us to keep core employees on board. We believed at that time this was a short-term provision and we were able to top up employees' wages to bring them to their normal level. Regrettably, as Covid evolved, we were not in a position to do that continually over six or nine months. Now we are reopened, but not fully. The hospitality sector is far from reopened fully as 70% of its income derives from international tourists. We will not get a full recovery until two or three years' time. We are building up our levels of staff because we have relatively high occupancy and steady business coming in the door. That allows us to build up our core staff again. The last thing we want to do is start losing them again. That will happen if this is cliff-edged on 31 December. The hospitality sector, going into its lowest period, will not be in a position to sustain those employees. That will put the industry on the back foot heading into a season in April or May where we will have to go through the entire recruitment process again. The industry is struggling to recruit staff and competing with the PUP, which is almost impossible.

It is a cliff edge. The Minister of State says it might be there until June but we probably need weaning off it, rather than a sudden stop. Will he come back on that?