Mr. Paul Kelly:

I thank the Deputy for the question. We have had a strong increase in overseas recovery, which is great news. It is looking like it will be strong next year, if we are to listen to the feedback from the inbound tour operators. It is also looking strong based on the air access capacity slated to come into Dublin Airport and other airports next year. The accommodation coming out of the system because of humanitarian needs is pointing towards a scenario where we will likely have more nights than usual at almost full capacity in key urban areas. These are what we call compression nights, which are nights with occupancy above 95%. That is the context in which I am writing to the industry this week.

The proposals in the new short-term legislation, which was brought to the Cabinet this morning, see an increase in the fines that Fáilte Ireland can leverage when people are non-compliant with their scale of charges. What an individual business submits for its scale of charges is completely a matter for it. However, when it has submitted its scale of charges, Fáilte Ireland will be focusing more on ensuring compliance with it. It has to be said that there are very few cases of non-compliance with the scale of charges, because it entails a quite wide band. In the letter, I am taking the opportunity to remind people of the reputational damage of non-compliance during compression nights when the city is pretty full and where there are last available rooms. Ms Fitzgerald Kane, Mr. Fenn and Ms Campbell have referred to this. The reputational damage of the high pricing of the small number of rooms is not worth the extra revenue they generate. That is the context in which I am writing. The aim is to remind people not to squeeze the last few euros out of the last few rooms because of the damage it does to the wider reputation.