Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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129. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 394 of 19 October 2021, the engagement she has had with Fáilte Ireland with regard to extending the tourism accommodation providers' business continuity scheme to independent tourism providers who are not registered with Fáilte Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55209/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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My Department’s main role in relation to tourism lies in the area of national tourism policy development.  Implementation of that policy is a matter for the tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland.  Funding is provided to Fáilte Ireland to promote and support the development of Irish tourism. This includes funding for business supports for tourism enterprises. The eligibility criteria for the Tourism accommodation Providers Business Continuity Scheme is a matter for Fáilte Ireland.

I understand that Fáilte Ireland provided a response to question 394 to the Deputy on the 29th October in which Fáilte Ireland confirmed that the general eligibility criteria section of the guidelines for the Tourism Accommodation Providers Business Continuity Scheme advises applicants that they must be registered or approved (or in application) under Fáilte Ireland’s National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) as at July 23rd 2021. 

The Fáilte Ireland National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) was developed to provide visitors with the assurance that nationally recognised minimum standards are in place. The Framework was also designed to maintain and develop standards across the tourism accommodation industry and to support the development of individual tourism accommodation operators. Given the importance of the Framework in this regard, funding was restricted to accommodation providers for those registered or approved under the NQAF. It should be noted that Fáilte Ireland waived its registration fee for accommodation providers in 2021.  Accordingly applicants could register at no cost.  

As with all Government funded grants and supports, Fáilte Ireland is obliged to follow strict protocols to ensure the grant application process is followed in a fair and consistent manner and that all relevant criteria are met by applicants.

€55m funding was provided in Budget 2021 for a Tourism Business Continuity Scheme. Phase 5 of this scheme supports eligible Fáilte Ireland approved tourism accommodation providers such as hotels, guesthouses, hostels, holiday camps, camping and caravan parks, self catering and B&Bs.  The maximum grant amount is €800,000. This phase opened for applications on 5th August 2021 and closed on 21st September 2021.  There are approximately 400 applications being evaluated for this scheme, with payments expected to commence in the near future.

As the Deputy will be aware be aware, accommodation providers can also benefit from many of the horizontal supports provided by Government such as the VAT reduction, the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme, tax warehousing and rates waivers.