Mr. Paul Kelly:

The original proposal was for that threshold to be €175, and the reduction of it to €75 is massively important, taking into consideration the numbers of people who spend money. Ideally, we would prefer there to be no threshold, but we do not think that there is a major issue with it. Other countries are being more aggressive and are offering a tax refund. I am not sure of the exact rationale behind the introduction of the threshold, but a threshold of €75 is much better than one of €175. We would prefer the threshold to be zero so as to stimulate as much spend as possible in small retail outlets such as craft shops and other shops when tourists visit the country.