Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste and I will read a short excerpt from his introduction. He said:

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 here in March 2020, the Government has sought to save as many lives and as many livelihoods as possible. ... We have sought to keep workers connected to their employers and on the payroll. We have sought to help businesses survive through a robust and sustained programme of financial support from the Government.

After 18 months going through Covid, that is what this Government and the previous Government have done. On behalf of the businesspeople in my home county of Longford, I thank the Tánaiste for his leadership, the support those business have received through the past 18 months and the proposed support for the coming months.

In the past week, there have been many discussions regarding the hospitality sector, including hotels, and the new restrictions that are being proposed. I welcome the supports that have been put in place. On the tourism end of things, the advent of Omicron has led to cancellations by many inbound visitors who had planned to travel here in the coming months. A significant number of schemes were in place to provide financial assistance for strategic tourism businesses such as visitor attractions, outdoor activity providers, coach operators and golf courses. All those schemes are now closed and I ask that the Cabinet consider reactivating some of them in order to have them in place early in the new year.

I concur with the comments of Senator Cummins in respect of theatre and pantomimes. I am involved in Longford's Traditional Panto group. We had sold out shows but are now facing into an extremely difficult period. We cannot access the scheme announced two weeks ago as a result of the requirement relating to a minimum operating cost of €150,000. We are in a very difficult position and are pushing ahead and adding extra shows but we will not break even if we do not receive supports. I support the call of Senator Cummins for extra supports.

Significant supports have been made available in the context of online purchasing in the past 18 months. As Senator O'Loughlin stated, the big purchasing days are coming. I appeal to those buying online in the run-up to Christmas to do so from Irish businesses and to buy local.