For Written Answer on : 23/06/2020
Question Number(s): 672,700 Question Reference(s): 12315/20
Department: Transport, Tourism and Sport
Asked by: Anne Rabbitte T.D.
QUESTION
* To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport his plans to help support an association (details supplied); if he or his officials are planning on holding meetings with the group; his further plans to help support the chauffeur sector more generally; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
– Anne Rabbitte T.D.
For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 23 June, 2020.
REPLY
I understand the very difficult business environment that small public service vehicle (SPSV) operators, including operators of limousine SPSV tour businesses, are now dealing with. In this regard, I am scheduled to attend the next meeting of the Advisory Committee on Small Public Service Vehicles later this week which will give me the opportunity to hear at first hand the impact of Covid-19 on the SPSV industry and how it is positioned to respond to the reopening of the economy in the context of the Government’s Roadmap to Reopening Society and Business.
Across Government we are acutely aware that the COVID-19 situation presents huge challenges for very many business sectors. That is why we have worked to introduce a wide programme of Government supports for impacted businesses. The range of supports available includes new schemes of wage subsidies, rates waivers, re-start grants, lending facilities, equity injection, and business advisory supports for example. I also note that self-employed owner-operators of SPSVs may avail of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment of €350 a week.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) also took a number of actions to reduce the immediate financial burden on SPSV operators and to make it easier for them to return to the industry when circumstances change. These actions included licence extensions and the waiver of late licence renewal fees. The NTA has also engaged with the motor insurance industry to facilitate a suspension of SPSV insurance for those SPSV operators who decide to temporarily stop working and suspend their licences.
I am aware that the limousine business is particularly reliant on the tourism and hospitality sector. Since late February my Department has engaged with industry with a view to understanding the challenges facing the sector. In addition, with my colleague, Minister of State Griffin, I have established the COVID-19 Tourism Monitoring Group. This group comprises industry stakeholders, the tourism agencies and Departmental officials and has been specifically established to monitor the disruption to the tourism sector and to assist in formulating the sector’s response to the crisis. This group will continue its work as it monitors the recovery of the sector as part of the Government’s Roadmap to Reopening Society and Business.
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For Written Answer on : 23/06/2020
Question Number(s): 701 Question Reference(s): 12316/20
Department: Transport, Tourism and Sport
Asked by: Anne Rabbitte T.D.
______________________________________________
QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport if an association (details supplied) will be invited to contribute to the Tourism Recovery Taskforce; if the association will be invited to contribute to the Taskforce for Aviation Recovery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. (Details Supplied) the Western Chauffeur Drive Association Ireland
REPLY
The Tourism Recovery Taskforce was established by Minister of State Brendan Griffin and I on 20 May 2020. The purpose of the Taskforce is to prepare a Tourism Recovery Plan for submission to the Ministers which will include a set of recommendations on how best the Irish tourism sector can adapt and recover in the changed tourism environment as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. The plan will identify priority aims, key enablers and market opportunities for the sector for the period 2020-2023. The Taskforce may consult with stakeholders to inform its deliberations and will report back later this year.
The Taskforce is made up of an independent chairperson and 13 other members from a broad spectrum of backgrounds including tourism policy, tourism enterprise, international, private and public service. The Minister of State and I selected members on the basis of each person’s capacity to bring his/her personal knowledge, skills, experience, competence, capability, strategic leadership and ideas to the work of the group. We have appointed individuals who, together, will work for the good of Irish Tourism as a whole. I can assure the Deputy that in the same manner that no sector was deliberately included, no sector was deliberately excluded.
The Taskforce will establish working groups to carry out specific tasks and that the Taskforce will undertake a widespread stakeholder consultation process whereby all sectors and interested parties will have an opportunity to provide constructive inputs and innovative ideas on how this vital sector to our economy can adapt and recover in a meaningful and sustainable way. The Western Chauffer Drive Association has an opportunity to contribute to the work of the Taskforce in this way.
In relation to your second query; the Aviation Taskforce was established as an industry advisory group and it has been set a very short timeframe to make recommendations to the Minister and to Government, having regard to the urgency of the crisis affecting the sector. That timeframe, which is a final report by 10 July, does not lend itself to broad public consultation. The Members of the Taskforce were chosen based on the their expertise and the perspective they can bring to deliberations and each has been requested to make submissions on what needs to be done. There is broad representation, including the main airports and airlines, tourism representatives, trade unions and consumer protection. That combination should be in a position to make a balanced and informed set of recommendations.
