Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. As he knows, there is a storm hitting County Clare now. It is at its peak as we speak. I hope Lahinch will be spared the drumming it got back in 2014, simply because of the €12 million invested by a Fine Gael-led Government in the rock armoury. We are now in a far better position to weather the storm than we were. The lesson is that Ireland is an island nation. Investing in coastal protection is necessary. In this regard, we need to think in terms of investing billions rather than millions of euro to ensure the beautiful seaside resorts throughout the country are protected when conditions deteriorate, as at present. I wish all the people who are now battling the weather the very best.

In Lahinch, the €2.7 million the previous Government provided to Lahinch Seaworld is being spent. I hope we will have a state-of-the-art facility for the people who come to visit the town. The €500,000 the Minister provided when he was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in 2013 saved the facility, which was about to close at the time. Therefore, we have a lot to celebrate. We are now in a better position as we move towards the end of the pandemic, but there are challenges. There are businesses that were established in 2019. A café in Ennis that was established in mid-November 2019 and that was doing exceptionally well now finds that, because it did not open two weeks earlier, it is not getting supports.Some tweaking will need to be done to support those people. They are in a position where they will be operating at 50% capacity. We do not want any business to close. We have provided billions of euro through the EWSS, the PUP and various other schemes that have kept businesses with a sign over the door in order that when we move past this dreadful disease, they will be able to trade, rebuild and contribute to our society with the offering our country gives to both the people who visit us and those who live here. Thousands of businesses are being sustained and will be able to rebuild into the future because of these Government supports.

I spoke to somebody with a business on one of the Canary Islands and he told me all that businesses there got was a waiver of rates. They got no supports worth talking about in the same way supports have been provided for in this country. That was made possible by the prudent management of our economy from 2011 until 2020. Whether people like to hear that or not, if we had not had a rainy day fund or been in a position where we balanced our books in 2019, we would not now be in the position to borrow billions of euro, as we did correctly when this pandemic hit.

We can learn from recent history about how to manage our economy and economic affairs. We do not want to see idle promises in a 1977-type scenario in the course of the next general election and having an awful position after that general election. People must be aware that we could act as we did because our economy was managed properly when Fine Gael was in government.