Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation conference is taking place today in Croke Park. It is a great opportunity for my friends from Cork in the industry to visit the venue. That got the Taoiseach's attention. One of the issues the confederation has been pressing is the requirement for the 9% VAT rate to be retained beyond September. As the Taoiseach knows, the plan is to return to the 13.5% rate from September onwards. The inflationary impact of that will be highly detrimental to Irish tourism and hospitality. It will certainly be very difficult for many enterprises, especially in the current climate of uncertainty. I ask the Government to urgently review the situation with a view to retaining the 9% rate beyond September.

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