Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to be associated with the Cathaoirleach's comments about former Member, Mr. Tom Hussey. Senator Murphy will speak later and will second the Cathaoirleach's motion, if that is all right.

I wish to raise two issues. I am a broken record on the first issue, which relates to the hospitality sector. I am calling again for a holistic debate on the value of the hospitality sector in Ireland. There have been significant closures in the Cathaoirleach's constituency in the recent period. The heart and soul of the hospitality industry is gradually coming apart. A number of hotels are providing emergency accommodation but there is a reason for that, which is that hotels are not financially viable. We are only now starting to see the impact on restaurants. That is happening despite the enormous support the Government gave the sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, which did untold damage to the industry. There was fundamental damage done to the structure of the sector during that period. Just as we came out of that period, we hit the highest inflation costs the country has seen in decades. It is not just one factor but multiple factors that are causing these issues. An increase of €1.40 to the minimum wage has been introduced. By the time you add holidays, PRSI, the new pension enrolment and the additional sick days that can be taken, that €1.40 quickly rises to €2.37. That is a 20% increase on the minimum wage in one year, following a 10% increase last year. Hospitality is built on staff. It is the one thing that makes us unique. We cannot afford that cost. On top of that, we are the country with the highest insurance costs. We also have the highest utility costs. Our food costs went up in the same way that domestic food costs went up. We have seen the cost of chickens rise by 100%. It is doing untold damage to communities, especially the more rural communities where the hotel is the heart of the community. There is a spin-off from the hotel to restaurants and the whole tourism sector. The sector is being damaged. The majority of beds being taken out of the hospitality sector are from low-market, budget hotels. In excess of 40,000 of the beds in the sector are now taken up by refugees. There are, therefore, price increases.

I wish to organise a meeting with the Minister for Transport about the main scheme projects that have been paused or stopped. I would like to discuss, relating to my own constituency, the main N11-M11 scheme at junctions 4 to 14. The scheme must be put back on the table. A bus priority scheme is currently proposed. We are wasting millions of euro and throwing it down the tube because at the end of the day, the main scheme must happen.