Mr. Tim Fenn:

In the last part of that question the Deputy referred to an individual company, so we might talk in general about what we refer to as the shadow economy, the sharing economy or the like. We are conflicted in that we are involved in providing accommodation. We are seeking to achieve a situation where there is a level playing pitch in terms of taxation, health and safety legislation, planning law, which is critical, insurance and redress for the consumer. The difficulty we are experiencing is that there is not a level playing pitch at present. There is much wonderful rhetoric about disrupters in the economy and so forth, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that there are people who are working in jobs, employers who are trying to create employment for them and people who are providing the best service they can for their customers. Customers might decide to go elsewhere, which is fine. That is part of the cut and thrust of competition. However, what should not happen is that the others are advantaged in a way that is unfair to the people who, over many years, have invested billions of euro in the Irish economy, particularly in tourism, and to allow "disrupters" to arrive and just change that without recourse. We do not think that is fair.