Mr. Tim Fenn:

Right across the board hotels pay, on average, €1,500 per bedroom so for a 100-bed hotel that is €150,000. We pay approximately €90 million a year in local authority rates. The key issue now is that when we are open, there is no change in the rates that we must pay. However, businesses that operate over the next year or two may do so at 50% of their normal turnover. The rates liability is based on the historical rentable value of a property. There is no provision in legislation to allow for a change to this during a pandemic such as that relating to Covid-19. Our businesses are acutely aware of the fact that these fixed costs will continue into the future, and there is no provision to allow for some holiday on that. If one were to take it that €1,500 is the average, people in certain parts of Ireland pay €500 but we have members who pay €3,000 per bedroom per annum.