On Question No. 61, I call Deputy Murnane O'Connor. The Deputy is substituting for Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan.
Tuesday, 5 December 2023
Questions (61)
Oral answers (7 contributions)
Christopher O'Sullivan
Question:61. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to outline her plans to address the challenges facing the tourism sector and hospitality businesses dependent on tourism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53612/23]
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I ask the Minister the plans to address the challenges facing the tourism sector and hospitality businesses dependent on tourism.
As Minister with responsibility for tourism, my statutory functions relate to the tourism sector and tourism-specific businesses operating therein, primarily providers of activities, attractions and accommodation. While elements of the hospitality sector are important parts of the wider tourism ecosystem, I do not have responsibility for the general hospitality or food services sector, which are, ultimately, important segments of the wider enterprise economy. However, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and I co-chair the hospitality and tourism forum, which brings together regularly these two important and interrelated sectors. That forum is due to meet again next week, on 13 December, in person. That will be the first in-person meeting since the group was established.
In June 2023, Fáilte Ireland carried out a detailed analysis of data provided by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth concerning the bed stock under contract to accommodate Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection and international protection applicants. This established that 13% to 14% of all Fáilte Ireland registered tourism bed stock is currently under contract to the State. An additional quantum of non-registered tourism-type accommodation stock is also contracted. This level of tourism bed stock displacement has inevitably led to challenges for downstream tourism businesses.
As part of the budget settlement that I have secured for tourism in 2024, up to €10 million has been identified for a comprehensive programme of supports targeted at those downstream tourism businesses experiencing particular trading challenges linked to the reduction in footfall to activities and attractions in regions most impacted by tourism bed stock displacement. This programme of supports includes investment in sustainable tourism development and promotion, industry digitalisation, promotion of domestic tourism and festivals and recruitment and retention initiatives.
I asked Fáilte Ireland to engage with impacted businesses to consider the scope for a specific business support scheme that could help the most affected tourism activities and attractions. My officials and Fáilte Ireland are engaging intensively on this and I hope to see the details of this scheme finalised and published soon.
In budget 2024, the increased costs of business scheme was introduced by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, as part of budget 2024, and he announced further developments on that today.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
It provides for a once-off grant to benefit up to 130,000 small and medium-sized businesses at a cost of €250 million. The aim of the scheme is to provide financial support to those firms which have been most impacted by additional business costs, by providing a tiered grant equivalent to up to half business rates for this year. This will also go some way to helping businesses meet the increase in the minimum wage to €12.70, which is obviously an important step towards the Government’s commitment to introducing a living wage. This is a welcome initiative, which embodies a whole-of-government approach to assisting small and medium-sized businesses, particularly with the extraordinary challenges of recent years.
It is very important that we get this published. It is great to see Fáilte Ireland and everyone else working together, but one example, and the reason I bring this up, is Carlow. The Minister has been to Carlow on several occasions. She is always welcome. We have what will be called the culture quarter. That quarter will be a huge tourism attraction, and within that we have a beautiful new library, Carlow College, St. Patrick's and Visual. The reason I bring this up is that we have loads of restaurants around the area. We have a huge tourism attraction there, and Visual is a beautiful contemporary arts centre with a beautiful theatre. It is the most beautiful part of Carlow town. As I said, it will be our culture quarter. Funding is so important there, we need to promote tourism, and Carlow is an area where I believe we need to invest more money. I ask the Minister, going forward, to look at Visual and parts of this culture quarter to support the hospitality sector and the businesses involved.
While I accept the merits of the €10 million support scheme for businesses, for me and for those I represent along the western seaboard, it does not go far enough. The exclusion of the hospitality sector, especially, is a major concern in this regard. I ask that we revisit this and look to put an additional package in place. A scheme of €10 million will only touch the surface of what is required. Taking Mayo itself, we have over 4,000 refugees from Ukraine. A huge proportion of them have been relocated to the likes of Donegal, Mayo and Clare. We need to do more to support the downstream businesses that have been affected, and the hospitality sector is part of that.
I strongly support the sentiments expressed by the previous speakers and the need to ensure that everything can be turned into a positive if the right initiative is taken. As regards tourism and culture, there is a wealth of information and a wealth of sources out there in buildings, locations and historical activity that the local public and the international public are most interested in.
As I said, that €10 million was identified to help those downstream tourism businesses and Fáilte Ireland is engaging with us. It engaged with the impacted businesses to consider scope for a specific support scheme. My officials are now in intensive discussions with Fáilte Ireland on this and I hope to have the scheme finalised and published soon. Let us see how far the €10 million goes. I would be open to that. If that is not enough, then we will look to support, but let us see. We have to wait for the full accounts of 2023. I would see it launched in March and then probably to drawdowns in early summer. We will see what happens there. There is the cost of business scheme also that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, announced which will help businesses and we are meeting all the stakeholders next week in person. It is the first in-person meeting and we will listen to the stakeholders and hear what they say.
Regarding visual, I know Deputy Murnane O'Connor has raised this before, as has my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. I will talk to my officials about that and get back to her as soon as possible.