Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste. I acknowledge the level of spending that is estimated by the Department of Finance that will be spent by the end of 2022, which is €48 billion. This is an astounding amount but absolutely necessary to support these businesses. We must remember of course that it is businesses, workers, entrepreneurs, corporations and everybody who has contributed to them. We are able to borrow this from the European institutions on the basis of our good name and reputation and the work we have done to balance the books in recent years.

As we all have, I have been approached in recent days since the announcements were made in the middle of last week, and even after the supports were announced last Friday, by hoteliers, restaurateurs and those involved in the hospitality sector in particular. They are considerable supports through the enhanced CRSS, the very welcome waiver of commercial rates until the end of March and the Covid contingency fund. We understand the reason behind the decision not to restore the EWSS payments to pre-November rates but there is concern. I am sure the Government would have preferred a sectoral approach because it would have been simpler. It would certainly be easier to explain and would provide the certainty necessary for these very important sectors. Businesses in Galway city, Connemara and elsewhere in Galway knew where they were prior to this and they expected to have a good Christmas period. This has been taken away from them because of the omicron variant. The Government will be continuously reviewing these and I ask the Minister to keep it under review when examining the possibility of changes to the EWSS.