Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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206. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the sector specific supports in place and or the plans to introduce support services for the airline sector. [26312/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is monitoring the financial impact of COVID-19 on the Irish aviation sector on an ongoing basis, in consultation with all key stakeholders and relevant Government Departments.

The Government has put in place a range of supports for businesses, including those in aviation. The supports include the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme, which will now run to April 2021, alleviation of commercial rates, tax clawback, and liquidity support available through 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.

The report of the Aviation Recovery Taskforce contains a number of recommendations relating to the provision of further support to the sector including through stimulus funding to aid recovery, and these recommendations are being considered, as appropriate, in the context of the ongoing work to manage the impact of COVID-19 on aviation and the wider economy.

The Government recently decided that it would broadly support the European Commission's proposed common approach to travel restrictions and movement within the EU.