Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept that.

I am pleased that the Taoiseach has effectively given in to the pressure to retain the 9% VAT rate on tourism-related products. That is beneficial and helpful and I am pleased that the Minister has listened to the industry. However, in what the Minister is doing, there is an element of the three-card trick. He is also putting a greater burden on the Irish pub trade.

The Taoiseach is giving with one hand and taking on the double with the other. The rural Irish pub is a very significant tourism attraction and, therefore, the measures to increase the excise on alcohol across the trade will impact disproportionately on the pub trade and on tourism activities. On the other hand, the Taoiseach could have followed the example Fianna Fáil had set in our budget proposal which was the introduction of a lid levy as a means of dealing with the public health issue, recognising that the abusive consumption of alcohol is impacting on the cost of the delivery of health services. It is clear that some of the multiples - not the independently owned off-licences - are using alcohol as a loss leader in an effort to attract customers to the shops to purchase other products with a much higher margin. This budget does nothing to address that issue. It is disappointing that the real negative impact will ultimately lead back to the people who are providing a service in rural and urban areas and a tourism attraction. In addition to a retention of the 9% VAT rate, the Minister's Estimates relating to tourism show that funding of €13 million for tourism promotion is discontinued. This will have a negative impact on the capacity of the State to market Ireland abroad. Money has been taken out of the pension fund over the past three years and the Taoiseach has not spent all of it in the way he promised-----

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