I raise with the Taoiseach the need for additional supports for the tourism and hospitality sector. Operators in this sector are having a really difficult time. I acknowledge the supports that have been put in place to date but much more is needed. We also need to send out a very strong signal from Government through the extension of the period for which the 9% VAT rate will apply. It is really important that, as more and more people in our communities are vaccinated - and I congratulate everyone involved in that exceptional work - we give an opportunity to the tourism and hospitality sector to safely engage with vaccinated customers, many of whom have a lot of pent-up spending power after the last 12 months, to try to turn the benefit of the vaccination programme into an economic benefit, particularly for the tourism and hospitality sector.

A number of the Deputy's colleagues are offering on this matter.

On a similar issue, given the Government's repeated statements regarding the vaccination programme which suggest that between 78% and 82% of our population will be vaccinated by the end of June and the proposed development of a digital green certificate within the Commission, will the Taoiseach commit to a health-led return for air travel in the tourism sphere when we have reached the point at which more than 80% of people have been vaccinated and we potentially have this digital green certificate in place? Will he comment on that?

I support this proposal on the basis that now is the time to prepare and to put plans in place in order to be ready to accelerate the revival of this sector as soon as that is possible.

The Government must support all of Ireland's tourism and hospitality communities. That also includes members of the National Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions. I want to protect the 5,800 livelihoods in Mayo that are dependent on tourism, not to mention the 275,000 such livelihoods nationally.

Government needs a long-term reopening plan, including metrics that are subject to public health. It must work with the tourism recovery oversight group and extend existing support packages.

I want to address the same point. We have a vaccination programme under way. When does the Taoiseach anticipate that the vaccination programme will form part of the process of reopening? When does he see it becoming a feature from 5 April on? The hospitality sector in Limerick includes publicans, restaurateurs and hoteliers. They are severely anxious about the future of their industry, both in retaining the staff and skill sets they have, and more particularly when they will be able to reopen. What does the Taoiseach anticipate will be the process by which he will announce that reopening, tied in with the vaccines and the green vaccination certificates for that sector?

We all acknowledge that the hospitality sector will be the last to recover from the pandemic and to be rebooted and restarted. The Government has established an excellent tourism recovery task force that will oversee that process and try to determine how we carry out that valuable work. We found out yesterday in an Oireachtas committee that hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and tour operators are represented on that group but there are no representatives from our thousands of pubs across the country and in our cities and towns or from our restaurants. This sector is an integral part of our tourism offering. One might argue that it is the reason thousands of tourists come to this country each year. It is worrying that our pubs and restaurants have no voice on that tourism recovery task force. I ask that this would be rectified.

I agree with my colleagues about the tourism and hospitality sector. West Cork is one of the top tourism spots in Ireland and it is particularly badly affected. The lead-in to Easter would have been a boom time for the hotel sector, restaurants, pubs and cafés. They need further supports. They are continuously in contact with me and they feel their voices are not being heard. Their doors are not reopening and some of them may not reopen for months. They need us to look at bringing the VAT rate for tourism back to 5% at this stage. The Taoiseach might explain to us what packages are in place for these businesses that are in serious trouble.

We all want to get back to normal life once it is safe to do so. Some six out of every 50 adults in Ireland have received their first vaccine shot. It is time to give them something tangible to hope for. Will we, as Professor Luke O'Neill predicted, be back in beer gardens this summer? Our hospitality and tourism sectors need that certainty.

I recently met representatives of the hospitality sector, along with the Tánaiste and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. We heard good submissions on the impact of Covid-19 on the sector, which has been the hardest hit sector across the economy, along with the arts and entertainment sectors. That is because of the virus and not because of Government policy. The variant has made it worse and more difficult for the hospitality sector more generally.

The Government has provided unprecedented supports to the hospitality sector and to other sectors of the economy in underpinning them through very difficult times in the midst of a global pandemic, which has up-ended the industry and this sector. Government will continue to look at what additional measures can be taken and we will work with the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform with a view towards the medium term. We have agreed to extend the supports until the end of June and we will see in the national economic recovery plan what specific measures can be introduced in line with task force recommendations around more medium-term guarantees that we can give to the industry and the sector.

The EU is considering the digital green pass. There are some differences of opinion among member states in terms of health advice and the utilisation and application of the digital green pass health certificate, which demonstrates that one has had the vaccination, to wider civil society in the conferring of rights to some over others. That said, we will be part of that interoperability and these are issues we will discuss as the vaccination programme rolls out. Suffice it to say that the nuts and bolts of such a policy are under active consideration, not just by Government but across the European Union. It is not as simple as it has been presented.

We are in a fragile state in terms of where the virus is right now. The Deputies should bear that in mind in how we look forward. We have made no decision on what will happen post 5 April. That is the current position.