Mr. Donall O'Keeffe:

I thank Mr. Cummins. I will cover just three points. Given that we are speaking to the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, it is important to think about the job numbers. There are 52,000 people employed in the on-trade, up and down Ireland, and they are located in every parish and village in every county. Those jobs matter to those people. They play a critical role in the local community, local business and local tourism. There are seven jobs in the on-trade for every one job in the off sector. Excise hits the on-trade disproportionately and hurts employment.

According to CSO data, not our data, there has been a 36 cent increase in the national average price of a pint in three years. The Government has taken 28 cent or 78% of the increase in tax. The brewers have taken 4 cent and publicans have taken 4 cent. We are operating in the discretionary part of the economy. The industry is moving might and main to hold prices down. We compete for customers and Government tax policy is hindering our competitiveness directly. As a consequence, there is an impact on employment, turnover and the overall tax take. We must always remember that the VAT intensity is in the on-trade. If we sell a drink at €5, the Government gets 23% of it. If a can of beer is sold in an off-licence, the Government gets 23% of €1 in the off sector. Excise hurts the on-trade disproportionately. Our key message to this committee is that as a policy instrument, taxation is directly damaging our competitiveness.

The final factor on which I wish to focus is our role in tourism. We represent publicans in Dublin and we benefit enormously from tourism. We see a rapid recovery in the Dublin market with which we are delighted. Obviously tourism is all over the country. I am from north Clare, an area which has many tourists in the summer. Publicans there need to compete the same as publicans in Dublin. According to Fáilte Ireland, 80% of tourists rate visiting the pub as a core positive experience. In our view, it is where they meet the people. They meet Irish staff and other Irish customers. That is where we generate much of our positive warm welcome for which we are rightly famous.

The tax policy, which also hurts the businesses in the domestic economy, hurts our competitiveness from a tourism perspective. While we have a very positive initiative on VAT to bring it to 9% to stimulate hospitality and tourism, at the time excise on alcohol goes through the roof. Our key point is that taxation, principally through excise on alcohol in our sector, is damaging our competitiveness. Our policy recommendation is around reversing the trends that have been apparent in the past two budgets in excise duty on alcohol.