Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the witnesses for coming in. We are all sorry about what happened at the last meeting but it was unavoidable.

I will start at the end, which was the discussion on the 9% VAT rate. Coming from the tourism capital of the western world, County Kerry, I have to throw my tuppence worth into the issue. I deal with many hoteliers and people involved in that industry on a regular basis. I heard it being said that only well-off people would be going to restaurants, or perhaps expensive restaurants. What about the people running hotels and trying to make it affordable to have weddings and functions? What about the people working in those establishments who rely on them for work and young people getting training in those hotels? We do not want them to close because they are not able to make money. They told me, and I listened to them, that they needed the VAT rate to stay where it is was because if it did not, that would have been detrimental to them, their businesses, their employees and, of course, the people who use their services. I have to say that. We are talking about the sustainability of this sector. It has been called a win, a political decision or something to that effect, rather than saying it was a sensible measure to help businesses to continue. We must remember that because of the increased cost of electricity, heating and gas, etc., these businesses are probably worse off now than they were at the time of Covid. The Covid business supports that were available at that time are not there now. Running a business is not for the faint-hearted. I wanted to get that point in.

I would like to speak about self-employed people and tax. What is there for them? There should be a focus on the attractiveness of being an employer and trying to keep a small business going. Instead of talking about employment incentives, we seem to putting in place more disincentives.

The main thing that happens, which we saw during the last crash, is that when the work stopped and businesses shut down, the employees were rightly able to get payments and assistance in some shape or fashion. However, the employers and the people who were running these businesses were not able to qualify for anything. We still see today that people are in a vulnerable position when they are running a business and when they are employing people. They are disincentivised and if anything goes wrong with that business they are left out on a limb, which is of great concern to everybody, employers and employees alike.

The issue of the fuel allowance was touched on earlier. I welcome the changes that came in during the first week in January to open up the availability of fuel allowance and make it more attainable for more people. With the high cost of fuel, heat and energy bills people have, now more than ever people are looking for the fuel allowance and it really makes a big difference to them. There are an awful lot of people, in my humble opinion, who should be receiving it but who are not receiving it yet or who cannot receive it, even since the first week in January and the changes that were made then. I want to hear what the witnesses have to say about broadening that even further than it has been. I welcome what was done in the last budget but more should be done. We never heard of the term "fuel poverty" many years ago, but now you would not go an hour without dealing with it, hearing it in a debate or reading about it in a newspaper. People are not imagining that or making it up; it is an issue. Heating people's homes is an issue.

I have more things I could say but I want to keep it short and sweet. I thank the witnesses and I appreciate them coming. It is great to have people with expertise and knowledge come in to give a presentation and take questions from the likes of ourselves. I am grateful and I thank and respect them for their time.