Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank the Minister for the initiative of bringing in the 9% VAT rate. That reduction in VAT has contributed enormously to tourism. There was much opposition to it and many were sceptical, but it has worked well. There are other initiatives coming along, such as the commemoration of the Battle of Clontarf in 2014 and, of course, the commemoration in Dublin in 2016. Is the Government planning to keep this 9% rate? There have been reports that the Minister's Labour Party colleagues are requesting that this be increased to raise revenue in the next budget.

It would be a disaster at this stage, in view of the figures the Minister has produced for the numbers of people visiting and availing of our restaurants and so forth. As costs in restaurants and other such facilities have gone down considerably, it has worked very well. I hope this proposal will be resisted because it would mean going backwards instead of forward.

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