Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see such a factual contribution. When we talk about having contributions on other things, it just shows that when the facts are there, we can actually have a reasonable debate.

I ask that we have a debate with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Simon Coveney, regarding business closures in the hospitality sector. Two restaurants in Tipperary town have closed in the past number of days. Prime74 and Flanagan's were two fantastic restaurants with huge reputations built up over a number of years. It is a devastating blow for the town.

We have other restaurants opening up in other towns. There is one opening up in Cahir. Two opened up recently in Clonmel, and Cashel is doing really well. However, we have a problem with Tipperary town and with certain restaurants and hospitality sectors that are struggling. When one listens to noise from the Opposition, one would swear it is the Government's fault but if one actually goes through the detail of it, and listens to people like Adrian Cummins from the Restaurants Association of Ireland, they do not actually criticise any of the measures Government has brought in, including increasing the minimum wage, auto-enrolment and sick pay legislation. These are all the right things to do. The problem we have is that they have all come in extremely quickly, and they all came in on the back of unexpected inflation. This has been very difficult for those businesses and we need to recognise that. While we have goals to get to certain stages, such as a living wage by 2026 and ten days' sick pay in just over two years, we need to recognise that is very challenging. We need to look at broadening out our timeframe on when we can deliver these things. We need to understand the challenges that businesses have and to recognise that there are things we can do.

Something I said on the radio yesterday, and we really need to focus on it, is that in the long term - and there are short-term things we can do - we need to be realistic about our VAT rate and recognise that there are different areas. We cannot justify having a 9% VAT rate for hotels in Dublin that are making thousands upon thousands of euro in profit while restaurants and pubs in my county are really struggling and would benefit. In the long term, we really need to be looking at a VAT rate separate for those of 9% and for big hotels in Dublin at 13.5%.