I hope you, your families and your employees are safe and well during this difficult time. While our health must be our top priority both at a national and personal level, I appreciate that this is also an unprecedented business crisis and I want to assure you once again that the full resources of Fáilte Ireland are being directed to support you.
As the COVID-19 crisis rapidly evolves, we are regularly updating our online support hub with new supports and expert guidance to meet the immediate and urgent needs of tourism and hospitality businesses.
Fáilte Ireland has triggered a number of initiatives that will deliver almost €3million back to Irish tourism businesses. These include refunds of accommodation registration charges and trade show participation fees, as well as the abolition of a range of other promotional fees and charges for the remainder of 2020.
Maintaining the employer-employee relationship and the retention of staff are critical during this crisis and the purpose of the Government’s Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme is to maintain this relationship. I would encourage as many employers as possible to avail of the scheme so when we come through this crisis, tourism businesses will be best placed to return to normality and recover as quickly as possible. Retaining current employees or re-hiring temporarily laid off employees on the scheme will not only help employers have their teams ready to go for recovery and enable staff to earn more during the period of shutdown, but importantly, it also avoids a redundancy situation developing and the associated pressures and complications this brings for both employer and employee.
Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Sector Development, Jenny De Saulles and her team have liaised directly with Revenue to get clarity on the questions raised by many of you in relation to the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme and we have now created a Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme FAQ document providing the answers to these questions, which you can find in the Government Supports section of our support hub.
I appreciate that as businesses are closed, there will be very little, if any work for many employees. With this in mind, we will be developing and publishing a range of employee training and engagement resources to help employers and employees make positive use of time during this difficult period. Find new guidelines in the HR Risk section of our online support hub on how to engage with your employees during this time to support their wellbeing.
I urge you to continue monitoring www.failteireland.ie for up to date information and support. We are here to help so if there is an area of support you think the tourism industry urgently needs, please don’t hesitate to contact the Business Supports team by email on business.supports@failteireland.ie or call our support desk on Lo Call 1800-242 473 (Mon–Fri 09:00–17:00).
Paul Kelly,
CEO, Fáilte Ireland
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