Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If I had put in varied treatment by sector, for example, if I had said we will do hotels in one go but restaurants on a phased basis, two things would happen. The first is that those in the hotel sector would ask why they were not getting the same treatment as those in the restaurant sector. The second thing is that we would be back here in a year's time with the case being made to me that the next phase of the increase in the restaurant sector should not happen. We would be having that debate then.

This was well expected. It has been debated publicly over the past two years since I have been in this role. In the tax strategy group papers we published earlier on in the year, we gave a very clear indication that this was a very live option for budget day.