Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for her comprehensive statement. It is an understatement to say that Covid has had a devastating effect on a number of sectors, in particular the aviation sector which has been largely shut for 18 months. That has had a knock-on effect for the tourism industry. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs and others have seen their income drop by up to 90%. However, the Minister of State, Fine Gael and the Government are conscious of the impact on workers and the industry, and have worked with the unions to ensure airlines will fulfil their obligations to workers during this difficult time.

I wanted to speak about the effect Covid has had on the tourism industry across the country. In January 2020, as people were getting sick in Wuhan in China, we were celebrating 11.3 million visitors to Ireland who spent a total of €6 billion and supported over 250,000 jobs. Then Covid hit, and we know everything hit the floor. In 2019 there were 24 gateways for flights operating out of our largest market, the USA. Today, there are just 14. International travel opened in mid-July, but we have not seen our numbers improve dramatically. We did not plan ahead sufficiently, unlike some other European countries. A lot of inbound visitors to the EU made their plans and visited other countries, such as Scotland, Italy and Northern Ireland. I say this as someone who has family members working in an industry that brings in tours from abroad. That is the main reason a lot of tourists did not come to Ireland. Despite the strong domestic summer staycation market in the absence of the international visitor, that will never be able to fill the hole that is missing. International tourists spend, consume and purchase more, be it car rental, coach transport, accommodation, pubs or shows. They have higher spending power. Opening extra routes has to be a priority.

We need to extend the VAT reduction for a significant number of years. It rebuilt our economy after the recession and I believe it can do so again. As was alluded to, Ryanair is back to 100% of its pre-Covid flight schedule from Cork and Shannon, but not Dublin. We need to extend the DAA funding beyond June so that agreements can be put in place. People are booking their holidays for next year already and we need to have routes in place or we will be down significantly for the 2022 season. Dublin Airport is already predicting that it will be down 35% on pre-Covid numbers. Senators Buttimer and McGahon highlighted a lot of these issues with regard to the routes. Connectivity is key to the rebuilding of our tourism industry.