Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State will be well aware of the level of devastation Covid has wreaked on the hospitality and tourism sector. Every little business in this sector has effectively been put on its knees. While there is recognition that the Government has supported the sector in so far as could so far, it is now recognised that more needs to be done.

In recent weeks, I have had conversations with Mr. Adrian Cummins of Restaurants Association of Ireland and Mr. Dermot Kelly of the Irish Hotels Federation. They made it very clear that their organisations had been holding on with their fingernails until business was to start again. The expectation was that we would be getting back to normal after Christmas but, with the restrictions continuing, the sector is now in a perilous state. The representative organisations have asked that the Government consider a number of proposals. First, the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, percentage needs to be doubled from 10% of 2019 turnover to 20%. We have to remove the limit of €5,000 per week because it is eliminating all the bigger businesses, namely those with 58 bedrooms and more. The reality is that these businesses have very significant fixed costs, including rent. They still have to pay their rent because the landlords are not getting payment moratoriums from the banks. Insurance still has to be paid. Payments associated with service agreements for lifts and other infrastructural elements must still be made and utility bills must be paid.

The sector recognises that the employment wage subsidy scheme has been very helpful but many businesses have had to supplement the payments under the scheme considerably to retain staff even though there is no money coming in. The representative bodies would like to see it extended until the end of 2021, regardless of the restrictions.

There is genuine annoyance over the way the banks are treating customers.The reality is that while the banks are indicating there is the potential for moratoriums, they are not giving them. Approximately 87% of those who have been surveyed indicated a willingness or a need for moratoriums yet only in the region of 45% are getting them. That is not good enough. In Denmark, France, Belgium and Germany, when restrictions are at level 5, as is the case here, the authorities have forced the banks to provide for moratoriums.

There is a recognition that VAT at 9% is good for the sector. This reduction needs to be extended until 2025 because it is the only way that these businesses will be able to continue to trade in light of the extended restrictions.

There is also a recognition that there is a considerable amount of money that the State collects through the utility companies. So what the organisations are looking for is a 70% rebate of the pass-through charges that the Government levies on the utility companies. It would not hurt the Government to do this but it would make a significant differences to these businesses. Of course, there needs to be an extension of the rates waiver.

Most of all, what we also need to do is look to schemes that will help some of the smaller businesses that have received no supports to date. I think of a pony trekking business in Domoland that is run by Sean Kilkenny and his family in this regard. Mr. Kilkenny has had no support whatsoever from the State but he has managed to feed his 40 horses and pay farrier costs and tried to pay insurance costs and the cover required to keep his vehicles going. He is now under enormous pressure and financial constraint. The State is going to have to be more imaginative in finding appropriate solutions for smaller businesses that fall outside the myriad schemes already in place. I appeal to the Minister of State, with his considerable experience in services to his local community, to look consider this matter.

I understand that Fáilte Ireland has €7 million left over from last year from the adaption grant and intends to spend it in eight major locations around the country. I understand that there is nothing coming to Ennis in my county. This is a town that has suffered hugely. It will continue to suffer in terms of its hospitality and tourism sector because if we have a summer holiday period this year, much of the activity will happen on the coast. We need to look after our county towns.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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This is a very important subject because tourism is a vital indigenous economic sector. In 2019, before the pandemic had wrought its effects on society, tourism was worth more than €9 billion to our economy through visits from overseas tourists and the fares they generated and domestic tourism. It supported 260,000 jobs throughout the country. Tourism is a unique sector in that it supports jobs in remote rural areas and bustling city centres. Nevertheless, it is a fact that it is particularly important for many areas across the regions that do not have many, or any, alternative options for employment and income. Since the advent of Covid-19 and the consequential and necessary public health measures, many of these jobs have been lost or are surviving with State support and income from the sector is a fraction of what it was in 2019.

Helping our tourism sector to survive and be in a position to recover when the circumstances allow is a key issue for the Government. An industry-led tourism recovery task force presented the Tourism Recovery Plan 2020-2023 to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, on 30 September 2020. The plan contains a number of recommendations to help tourism businesses to survive, stabilise and recover from the pandemic. It has been a hugely helpful input for the Minister and her colleagues in Government in identifying appropriate measures to assist the sector both to survive the pandemic and subsequently recover.

Good progress has been made in introducing the following tourism-specific measures. There was a record level of funding allocated to tourism overall this year, which is an increase of €59 million on the 2020 allocation. Based on this allocation, a €55 million business continuity scheme was launched on 1 February by Fáilte Ireland to help strategic tourism business survive the pandemic and drive recovery. The scheme will contribute to the fixed costs of identified tourism businesses that are not eligible for the CRSS to support their survival. It will provide an equitable level of payment to CRSS for qualifying businesses and the first phase that was launched on 1 February will cover businesses such as tourism attractions, activity providers and caravan and camping sites.Two separate funds of €10 million each were introduced for coach tourism operators and the Ireland-based inbound agents business continuity scheme in the last quarter of 2020 with €8 million made available under the restart grant for bed and breakfasts. Funding of €5 million has been provided for upskilling training and to improve digital presence, along with a €26 million adaptation fund for the tourism sector to adapt premises to meet Covid-19 safety requirements. As well as these direct supports, the VAT rate for the sector was reduced to 9% to help improve competitiveness and business viability. This week the Covid-19 business aid scheme, CBAS, will be launched. That is for businesses locked out of the CRSS payment.

Survival is the first part of the Government's response for tourism. Recovery must come next and we will continue to keep all options open to support the recovery. A recovery oversight group has been appointed to oversee the implementation of the recovery plan. It presented its first report to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, two weeks ago. Its findings were taken on board as part of finalising the path ahead for our new Covid-19 plan. The group will continue to report as the situation evolves and the Minister will continue to engage with the stakeholders to ensure she is fully apprised of the challenges they face. This engagement will continue next week when the hospitality and tourism forum will meet again. It will be co-chaired by the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The Government is fully aware of the significant challenges facing both the tourism and hospitality sectors. We will continue to work to ensure the sector emerges from the pandemic and shows the resilience it has in the past to recover in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State's comprehensive response.

What really gets me, however, is the carry-on of the banks. The announcement today by Bank of Ireland that it is closing over 100 branches across the State - three in Clare in the towns of Tulla, Kilkee and Milltown Malbay - is an appalling kick in the teeth to the people in those communities who stood behind the bank when the State bailed it out to protect our banking system. That is the reward these communities are now getting from the upper echelons of Bank of Ireland. These communities stood behind that bank when it needed support. Now it is turning its back, using the reduction in footfall as an excuse. People cannot go to the banks because they are not able to travel and have been told to stay at home except for essential purposes. It is hardly a surprise that the numbers going through the doors of the banks have reduced.

We are trying to tell everybody that we will get beyond the pandemic and the other side of Covid, allowing people to be free to move around again. Before we get the restrictions lifted and before we get to the other side of Covid, the bigwigs in the boardroom of the Bank of Ireland have decided to pull the shutters down in Tulla, Kilkee and Milltown Malbay. It is wrong and it needs to be challenged by the Government.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I take the Senator's point on the banking announcement this morning. I was also disappointed to read the news about branch closures in my constituency. I will certainly raise these points with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe.

The Government is working with the tourism sector. The Senator referred to key representative bodies which have been working hard and keeping in regular contact with the Government giving suggestions on what is needed to support the sector. Last Friday, I met with the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, and Insurance Ireland on the issue of business interruption insurance. Insurance companies are now paying out on legitimate business interruption claims. From my experience locally, that has not always been the case, however. If Senator Dooley is aware of a legitimate claim that is not being paid, he should let us know because we want to feed that into our discussions with the insurance industry. Work is ongoing and a stakeholders forum has been established.The key stakeholders are working with the relevant Ministers, namely, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who has apologised that she could not be here today and the Tánaiste. The Government is acutely aware of the importance of these sectors and is determined to support them as best it can, until we get to a situation where they can operate more fully again.