Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. He referred to some of the positive impacts of the lower rate of VAT on the hospitality and tourism sector. It costs around €350 million a year, a very substantial amount of money. That is the gross cost, but I would like to know if the Department has carried out an assessment of the net cost on the Exchequer, in view of the positive impacts to which the Minister referred, in terms of tourism and employment numbers. The net cost is not €350 million and there are various estimates of what it is. It is important, when the Minister is making a decision in the context of the budget, that this information be available.

Second, as the Minister knows, the VAT reduction was part of the jobs initiative which was funded by the pension levy. It was estimated at the time that the Department would take in approximately €1.9 billion. I note that the pension levy, in the last week or so, came in ahead of profile. In 2013 it came in at approximately €512 million, over €40 million more than the Minister had expected to receive. It is clear from the figures provided by the Department of Finance that not all of this money is being spent on the jobs initiative. Somewhere between €200 million and €300 million has not been spent on the measures for which the levy was initially introduced.

Has any decision been made on the 9% VAT rate at this stage? I ask the Minister to give us an indication of the position in that regard.

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