Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Apologies for being late. I welcome the participants.

I am an unashamed supporter of publicans and pubs. We are endangered species in this place at present because they are being blamed for all the social ills. The irresponsible behaviour of some people in regard to alcohol, particularly from a road traffic point of view, is something that nobody would condone. That being said, there has been an orchestrated and successful campaign at demonising everything to do with the licensed trade in this country over many years and that is something with which those in the licensed trade, with members here, will have to contend.

Governments do not get everything right but when they get something right, it is nice to acknowledge it. This year there was no increase in excise duty on alcohol. That was important. It was in no small way due to the lobbying by the licensed trade.

I recall the time the Government introduced the reduced rate of VAT on the hospitality and tourism sectors. It was funded as part of a particular initiative, the Jobs Initiative, that the Government launched at the time.

The Opposition railed against it, especially the VAT reduction, although now it thinks it is the best thing since sliced bread. When governments get things wrong, which happens a bit, representative organisations are very quick out of the blocks to criticise, but when the Opposition comes out with some clangers - and by God, it has come out with some right ones - the shoe never goes onto the other foot. These organisations are not inclined to kick the Opposition for some of the clangers it has proposed and the criticism it has made of the industry. Some people on the Opposition benches thought, for instance, that reducing the travel tax to 0% was a bad idea. In my region it is not a bad idea, because in the mid-western region, close proximity to Shannon Airport is hugely important.

The Opposition parties opposed the Jobs Initiative, but I did not hear any of the representative organisations, who ultimately were beneficiaries of the initiative, criticise the Opposition for being short-sighted and playing party politics. The Opposition parties are very good at that and get a great deal of soundbites out of it, but the proof of it is that there are 35,000 to 40,000 more people at work in the hospitality industry. As the organisations analyse pre-budget submissions - I say this to farmers, employers, unions, and others - they have a responsibility to their members and the people who support them and their industry and the people who work for them to criticise in a constructive way Opposition proposals regarding pre-budget submissions, because some of the Opposition's proposals are so off the wall that they would destroy the industry. It is talking about wealth taxes, increases in employer's PRSI and jacking up service charges and commercial rates because they do not want people paying for domestic water. In the pre-budget submissions of the main Opposition parties, there is a clatter of landmines, which would go off in the faces of these organisations. There is a responsibility on them, certainly in the next budget, to critique in a constructive manner some of the ludicrous suggestions some people in this place come up with.

Could the representatives of the hotels industry elaborate on their relationship with NAMA? There are many unfortunate people who built hotels and ran into difficulties through no fault of their own, and whose hotels are now under different legal ownership. Could they elaborate on how they are getting on with them in terms of the viability of those hotels?

We would be failing in our job if we did not relay some of the criticisms that are levelled at us. Senator Terry Brennan is right. There is a temptation to go back to the pre-collapse days, certainly in Dublin. At the first whiff of a quick buck, hotels put up their prices. It is happening every week. Whether it is the Web Summit or whoever is in town, a concert or whatever, hotels in Dublin are back at it - dragging up the prices, realising that there is a limited number of beds, realising that there is a shortage of supply and fleecing people again. Perhaps the Irish Hotels Federation should telephone hotels to check on availability and charges from time to time? What suggestions do the witnesses have as to how they can treat their members who do that to consumers, particularly, Deputy Griffin said-----