Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies for raising this issue. As has been said, it the impact is not only on the tourism and hospitality sector. It also covers cinemas, theatres, hairdressers, historic houses, natural heritage facilities, open farms and amusement parks, to name a number of examples. We had to take a range of factors into account at a political level, not least the fact that if the VAT rate went back up on 1 March, it would inevitably have led to certain price increases. That would come at a time when we are trying to get inflation down and it would have moved prices in the opposite direction. It is a jobs-rich sector across all regions and many of the businesses concerned are dealing with high costs at this time. I acknowledge the point Deputy Conway-Walsh made about the TBESS. It was not possible to extend that scheme to cover businesses that use oil and LPG but the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is bringing forward a grant scheme on a comparable basis to address that issue.

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