Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 October 2020
3. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht her plans to introduce a sector-specific Covid-19 plan for the coming months for the tourism and hospitality sector to provide additional support for businesses in view of the potential for further restrictions during the winter months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27684/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraDoes the Minister intend to introduce a sector-specific Covid-19 plan for the coming months for the tourism and hospitality sector to provide additional support for businesses given the potential for further restrictions during the winter months? Will she make a statement on the matter?
I am acutely aware of the enormous and unprecedented challenges which face the tourism and hospitality sectors as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Almost all tourism businesses were initially required to close to comply with the necessary public health measures introduced. Many have since reopened but, unfortunately, the majority of businesses are operating with significantly reduced levels of turnover compared with 2019 as a result of the ongoing public health measures and the almost complete absence of overseas tourists coming into the country. This has meant that many jobs in the sector have been lost or remain vulnerable.
Along with my colleagues in government, I have taken a number of measures to help the sector survive this crisis. The July stimulus package introduced significant measures to help businesses recover following the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 crisis. Some of the key measures for tourism and hospitality include the stay and spend initiative, the €26 million adaptation grant, the €10 million grant for coach tourism and the revised restart grant, which now includes bed and breakfast establishments. Tourism enterprises will also benefit from wider horizontal support, such as the new employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, liquidity and enterprise investment measures, warehousing of tax liabilities and the extension for a further three months of the waiver of commercial rates. As part of its response to Covid-19 and to drive bookings for short breaks and holidays in Ireland in 2020, Fáilte Ireland has invested in a number of domestic holiday campaigns since June of this year, and I have seen at first hand that these campaigns have been successful in getting Irish people to holiday at home.
All of these measures have helped the sector, but I appreciate that severe challenges remain and there is justified deep concern in the sector. We need to continue to examine ways to ensure businesses survive and recover. The tourism recovery task force, appointed in May, has just submitted its report to me. It is making a number of recommendations to help the sector survive the crisis and recover. That will feed into the roadmap the Deputy refers to in her question. Along with my colleagues in government, I will consider its recommendations as we prepare for the budget and the subsequent national economic plan.
As the Minister says, she is acutely aware that the tourism and hospitality sectors are among the hardest hit sectors. They are on their knees and they face into a long winter. The Irish Hotels Federation, IHF, has said that the weekly rate of new bookings has plummeted by 67% and it is looking at occupancy rates of 23% for October. It also estimates 100,000 jobs have been lost and a further 100,000 jobs are at risk, so it is massive. The pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and the EWSS are being cut, and the July stimulus package was a major disappointment for the industry and they made no bones about that. The stay and save initiative launched today is not going to cut it either. It is October and the Minister has missed out on the holiday period. Children are back at school and so on. The initiative also excludes so many people that it is not fit for purpose. How can the Minister call that a stimulus package?
While absolutely necessary, the public health guidelines disproportionately impact the sectors supported by my Department, namely, tourism, culture, arts, Gaeltacht, sports and media. I have had extensive engagement with people representing those working in the tourism and hospitality sector and will continue to do so. As the Deputy said, at the beginning of the year tourism supported 270,000 direct and indirect jobs. That is one in ten of all jobs. The IHF has estimated another 100,000 jobs are at risk. I am aware of the pressure they are under.
On the stay and spend initiative, the purpose of that was to support the accommodation and food sector during the off-season, not during the peak season. That is what was flagged to us as what was needed. There was concern about the season between October and April. However, this is a fast-paced pandemic and we are in a different position now to July when we launched what was a very innovative scheme. The country was reopening then but now we are dealing with much harsher restrictions on already devastated sectors. Given that, it is natural to assess if the initiative is providing the full benefit that was planned in July.
Can the Minister honestly say the stay and spend initiative is sufficient for what the sector needs? A whole section of society has been excluded from it and it is only those who can afford to go on a holiday that will benefit from it. A voucher scheme such as that proposed by my party, according to which every adult and every child in the State would have got €200, would been a real stimulus package. Given the pandemic, the restrictions and the lockdown, if a person's county is in lockdown between now and April, there is hardly an opportunity to break away and he or she is not going to be able to benefit from it.
I sent a written question to the Minister and she referred to the tourism and recovery task force and the recovery plan that has been published. She said earlier she had seen it. She said in the written response to me that, if necessary, she will refine existing supports and consider further necessary measures. They need to be more than refined. There is a whole sector in hospitality and tourism in deep trouble and the first thing that needs to be done is the PUP needs to be restored and larger grants and initiatives introduced to sustain the sector. It is crying out for help.
That is why I have been engaging with them extensively. One of the first things I did as a Minister, on day two, was to meet with the sector. On the stay and spend initiative, that is exactly what I said in my answer: it needs to be reassessed. I take that on board. That is why I am saying that in this Chamber. It is because of the fast-paced nature of this horrifying pandemic and how it is impacting on the sector.
The tourism recovery task force report landed with me this week. I am reading that and will give it consideration. As the pandemic evolves, the Government will consider what are the best supports and measures which can be introduced to support businesses and employment. I will be discussing this with my Cabinet colleagues in the context of the budget and in my role as a member of the Cabinet committee on economic recovery. The people who represent that sector and other individuals I have spoken to know I voice that at Cabinet and will continue to do so. That means everything has to be considered. As far as I am concerned, everything is on the table in the context of the budget.
