Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back into the House. I thank Senator Warfield for his continued work over the past number of months. The night-time economy is an important part of our economy. It supports tens of thousands of jobs throughout the country. The vast majority of it is made up of SMEs. As we are all aware, SMEs are the backbone of the Irish economy. The industry is coming out of the toughest couple of years it has ever encountered. Many sectors were hit hard by Covid-19 but none more so than the night-time economy which for obvious reasons was devastated by restrictions and closures. The establishment of the night-time economy task force was a vital step by the Government. We must continue to work with stakeholders in the night-time economy. I am well aware from my own background that businesses in this area know how the Government has supported them. It is important to point out that the report delivered by the task force included many actions which will boost the night-time economy. We are starting to see those come into action. As we are aware, the establishment of night-time advisers in six pilot towns and cities will be a significant step towards boosting and securing a vibrant and sustainable night-time culture, of which my colleague Senator Malcolm Byrne also spoke, for all our citizens. The pilot grant scheme, which is allocating €2.6 million to support entertainment in off-peak times to increase footfall later in the evening in our cities, including my own city of Galway, is currently open for applications. That is another important step. We still need to do more, naturally. We need to ramp up the pilot programmes at the earliest possible opportunity and I am confident that the Government will do so. Overall, it is welcome that we are having this discussion. We are all aware of the issue of licensing laws. Continued work needs to be done.