Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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12. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will address a matter regarding supports for the hospitality sector (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62265/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Government continues to support businesses through these challenging times and recognises the impact that the new measures will have on sectors, in particular, sectors such as hospitality, the arts and entertainment, and the night-time economy.

With this in mind, on Friday the 3^rdof December we announced a package of financial interventions for the hospitality, events and entertainment sectors. The package includes:

- the maintenance and extension of the enhanced support for businesses who qualify for the EWSS for the months of December 2021 and January 2022.

- an extension to the end-date of the CRSS to 31 January 2022 to align with the requirement for nightclubs and discos to close until 9 January 2022 under the Health Regulations.

- an extension of the targeted commercial rates waiver at least until the end of March

- an extra €25 million from the Covid contingency fund applied to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, in particular to assist the live entertainment, arts and performance sectors.

As the Deputy will be aware, the PUP has also been reopened for workers who lose their jobs or have lost their jobs as a result of the newly announced restrictions.

Details of existing supports can be found on my Department’s website, please also refer to the Fáilte Ireland business support hub webpage and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media website as responsibility for the hospitality sector lies with that Department. Homepage | Business Supports | COVID-19 Support Hub | Fáilte Ireland (failteireland.ie) gov.ie - Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (www.gov.ie) Government supports for COVID-19 impacted businesses - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie)

Government policy remains that there will be no cliff edge to the support. All business supports are being kept under review to ensure that they are timely and target those that need them the most.