Ms Patricia King:

Deputy Chambers asked about VAT. I will make three points if I might, to try to deal with the questions raised. The VAT rate was introduced when it was in order to pass on to customers. The crash had just happened and it was an attempt to try to keep life in the restaurant and hospitality sector in the main.

The National Competitiveness Council, in its most recent report, points out that this is what has happened in the hospitality sector. One of the largest increases in prices was in restaurants - up 8.4% between 2013 and 2017. Irish hotels and restaurant prices are now 20% above the EU 28 and eurozone average. The CSO estimates that inflation in restaurants and hotels was twice the rate for all items between 2010 and 2017. It certainly did not succeed in doing anything on price.

As to whether it will deal with jobs, there are lots of statistics, not only on Dublin, on bedroom price rates, etc. The Irish Hotels Federation has published its own statistics on this and one can see where this is not only a Dublin issue but happens right across the country. The price levels in the west and the mid-west are not the same as those in Dublin but there are price hikes in all of the hotels. The hospitality sector is doing well.

On the jobs issue, a majority of the firms in this sector earn a small proportion of sector turnover and, in fact, do not employ large numbers of people. The reason I say so is many of them do not have a turnover. Those referred to in the constituencies mentioned do not have a turnover that requires them to register for VAT in the first place and, therefore, it does not apply to them. That is the first point. The second point is that two thirds of the revenue in this sector goes to 5% of firms with an annual turnover of more than €2 million. That tells one the reduced VAT rate is being sucked up by big profitable global companies in this country which do lots of fast food and all the stuff I am sure I am not allowed to mention. The committee members know the companies I am talking about. They are loving it and they are eating it up. That is the main part. If one goes to any Revenue, CSO or other statistics, one will find that is the case. We are handing them a reduced VAT rate and they are loving it. Every year, they make more profits than they made the year before.

The tourism sector and Tourism Ireland will tell the committee in any presentation they make that the profile of tourism in Ireland is changing a great deal because of their work. Tourism Ireland is going to Asia, etc. The statistics for the UK are available. One in 20 who visits from the UK is an Irish person. Half of UK visitors are visiting family and friends. Those are the statistics.

On the Brexit fund, we have had discussions with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation to try to get to a situation where, for instance, in agrifood, which, as the Chairman and I both know from sitting on the Brexit stakeholder forum, is the first vulnerable sector according to the indications of all the figures, we have worked out a strategic plan which either reskills or retrains those workers or supplements job acquisition in other sectors as with the Globalisation Fund, and that we have that ready rather than waiting to go to a canteen and tell 50 workers their jobs are gone. We want to be ready with that Brexit assistance fund. We, as a movement, can work with employers to identify those employments and to identify the ways and means of doing it.

Finally, on the participation rate, data tells us that instead of looking holistically at unemployment we should be looking at what is the participation rate. Ireland's rate is lower than that of most in the EU. We are at 67% for female participation. No doubt a major contributory factor to this is the high cost of childcare. We are second highest when it comes to couples. We are highest in terms of the provision of childcare for lone parents. It is one of the strongest features in dealing with participation. Of course, young girls are better performers than young boys in school. They are coming out of the education system with good skills yet we end up in a situation where we are losing. It behoves everybody to deal with the female participation rate in the economy.