Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House. While I moved the motion, it would be absolutely remiss of me not to speak about what was announced to the people of Louth and Drogheda yesterday. The D Hotel is a central economic hub and a focus of a lot of the activity, tourism, and events that happen in Drogheda. It is not just the bed nights. There is an impact to closing down that hotel in its entirety. We know that not all hotels that take international protection applicants close down entirely. They share the space. I presume the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, signed off on this colossal number. It is a huge number of 500 people. They are very lucky to get to Drogheda. It is a wonderful place and a beautiful historic town. It is a very welcoming and multicultural town. I worked in factories in Drogheda over the years, back in the 2000s, and they were full of Turkish people when I worked there. Drogheda is well used to integration and to welcoming people.

I want to know from the Minister whether his Department has done an economic analysis on the impact of closing down the only big hotel in Drogheda centre. The other two hotels are a lot smaller. This will decimate small local cafes and bistros. The comedy festival, into which Louth County Council and Fáilte Ireland invest a lot of money, will start on 8 March. Where are people going to stay? It is very welcome that the Government put a lot of resources into Drogheda when it had a troubled time. It is now coming out of a mist and has begun to thrive. People came to the Lú Festival of Light back in October, which was a wonderful event.

There is disappointment in Drogheda and devastation as well as uncertainty. This week 57 jobs were lost in Marks and Spencer. Has it crossed the Minister's desk in the Department that already there are job losses in Drogheda and that people are suffering? Now we have a hotel closing down. It is really upsetting to get correspondence on it as a fait accompli. It is a notification not a consultation or information. Will the Minister let us know if there has been an economic analysis on what the impact will be on local economies and on what supports can be put into local economies? Will the Department ask shop owners or bistro and cafe owners how the closing of the hotel will impact ancillary businesses?

The Four Seasons hotel in Carlingford had to close because it was destroyed during the floods. This had a huge impact in Carlingford given that weddings and events were gone as were the people who just came on holiday and would eat out in the surrounding villages. I know first hand the impact the closing of a huge hotel has on a local economy. I am really worried about this because it seems that the Government is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I am aware that things are not simple and that the Minister is up against it but we have to look at what we are doing in its entirety, and work with the system and with communities. In many cases the whole hotel has not closed down and events can happen and people can stay. It goes against what we are trying to do with community cohesion. I know Drogheda really well. It is a great town but we are putting people and businesses under pressure. They will not be able to pick it up.

It goes back to building equity into the system. We speak about this quite often, and especially in terms of the Minister's brief. We look at the very welcome and the very good job we did when bringing Ukrainians into the State. We did a fantastic job. For social cohesion, we must make sure to continue that good job in welcoming people, so that people believe there is equity in the system, where people are means tested for benefits, where there is a pathway for them to come out of State supports and where people are treated like every other citizen resident in the country.

The Minister will know that hard cases do not make good law. There are, however, an awful lot of hard cases. Consider the situation with medical cards, for example. People who are struggling here do not get medical cards. It is about equity in the system.

I ask for support for this motion. That is not an issue but what is happening in the Department is not working. It is not working for local communities and it is not working for local businesses. When a place that is so welcoming and as fantastic as Drogheda is is coming up against this, it is a really sad day for us. As far as I can see, there has been no economic impact assessment. It is just a case of, "There you go and there we have it", and the job losses or whatever do not matter because this one Department is taking control of it all. It is hugely disappointing.

I wish to raise the issue of all the extra costs of this. I am aware the Minister is pulling back on the costs, such as the €800,000 on veterinary and animal welfare costs, but this is the stuff that is really disheartening for people. We had the North South Youth Forum in the House recently, including a local youth worker from Louth, Ms Erin Finnegan. We have been struggling to get funding for youth services. The model at the minute is not working for the youth in Ireland, and particularly in rural areas. It is not about not wanting people to have supports, but it is wanting everyone to have supports. When people feel left out, they are upset and they start distrusting the system.

It is a very difficult day for the people and the businesses of Drogheda. I just wanted to put that on the record. What is happening in the Minister's Department is not working.