Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and Minister of State are welcome. In the Minister's opening statement, she stated, "our tourism sector looks forward to a busy summer season ahead" and indeed it does. You can already see an abundance of tourists throughout the city but for how long will that last, given the price gouging that is going on in hotels and the extortionate room rates people are being charged? People are beyond furious about this. During the pandemic, when hoteliers had asked the public to support them by holidaying at home, people did support them. Now you have a situation where things are opening up again and are getting busy and the great rip-off begins.

For example, I checked on Monday morning, when a room in a Dublin hotel was priced at €320 for the night, no breakfast. I received correspondence yesterday from a family who, because they were concerned about missing their flight, sought to book a room overnight in order that they could depart early for the airport. The family of two parents and four children were quoted a price of €816 for one night in Dublin city with no breakfast.

Another hotel on a Saturday night in June quoted a Dublin price of €393, where the price in Belfast it was €193. The cheapest price I could see for two nights in July was €600, again with no breakfast. Another hotel quoted the same two nights at two euro short of €1,300 but the good news is that there was breakfast included with that.

These are extortionate prices about which people are completely furious.

This is going to cause significant reputational damage to Ireland as a destination without a shadow of a doubt. When the word gets out to overseas visitors that this is a rip-off, that people are paying way above any other hotel rates right across Europe, that Ireland is starting to rip off people again, this will cause long-term damage.

I was going to say it stinks of pure greed but it is pure greed. When one goes on to any site to look for hotel prices right across any other major European city, they offer fair prices and value for money. In Ireland, particularly in the cities and in the larger areas, they are literally engaging in extortionate pricing. It is not fair on other hotels in quieter areas of the country which are not engaging in price gouging and are trying to do their best to encourage tourism. When word gets out among overseas visitors, that reputation will be given to us unless a stop is put to it.

We must also consider domestic tourism, as people are not going to forget these prices. People will remember all the supports the industry was given during the pandemic. People supported these hotels, stayed and holidayed at home. At the time, people had said some of the prices were very expensive in comparison to other times but they were absolutely nothing to the price gouging and the brazen rip-off that is going on now. In her opening statement, the Minister stated, "We must work together to ensure that our céad míle fáilte and good value continues [and that the] tourism recovery must be sustained and sustainable." What plans does the Minister have to ensure that this price gouging stops? What is the Minister's assessment of the wisdom of extending the VAT reduction, given that demand is not the problem? Would she be reluctant to extend this reduction further given this phenomenon or what measures does she plan to take to call out the hotels on these prices because we have to sustain our tourism in the long term? Once a place gets a reputation of extortionate prices, people will just stop coming.