Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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143. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way in which he plans to support the thousands of workers employed in airlines and the airline industry in view of the huge challenges now facing the sector due to Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14956/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The aviation industry is one of the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and all airlines have seen severe depletion of revenue and are facing various degrees of financial challenge.

In order to assist businesses and protect employment, the Government has put in place a comprehensive suite of supports for companies of all sizes, including those in the aviation sector, which includes the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates, deferred tax liabilities, and the ISIF Pandemic Stabilisation and Recovery Fund for medium and large enterprises. These supports are designed to build confidence, to further assist businesses in terms of the management of their companies and to allow them to begin looking to the future and start charting a path forward for the weeks and months ahead.

The Aviation Recovery Taskforce, announced on 10 June and which first met on 12 June, was requested to set out recommendations for consideration by Ministers and Government on what needs to be done to assist the Irish aviation sector to recover from the COVID-19 crisis. The taskforce published an interim report on 23 June and a final report on Friday 10 July. These recommendations will be considered in the ongoing work to manage the impact of Covid 19 on aviation and the wider economy.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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144. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the amount of funding requested by each airline in view of the challenges facing the sector due to Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14957/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is assessing the financial impact of Covid on the Irish airline sector on an ongoing basis. The sector was represented on the Aviation Recovery Taskforce and the final report of this group was recently published on my Department's website. The recommendations contained in this Report will be considered as appropriate in the context of the ongoing work to manage the impact of Covid 19 on aviation and the wider economy.

In order to assist businesses and protect employment, the Government has already put in place a comprehensive suite of supports for companies of all sizes, including those in the airline sector, which includes the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and the ISIF Pandemic Stabilisation and Recovery Fund. It remains open to airlines to engage directly with the relevant agencies concerned with a view to drawing down such supports. The amount of any funding sought by each airline would be a commercial matter for the airlines concerned.