Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

A week ago, I canvassed in a mid-size Irish town outside the greater Dublin area. I knocked on a door and the man who answered told me that within the past ten years six pubs, two hotels and two banks in the town had closed. He said people cannot get a hot meal in the town any more. The town is similar to hundreds of other towns outside the greater Dublin area. In reality, there are two economies in this country. Anybody who has walked the main streets of most towns outside the greater Dublin area would say they are festooned with dereliction and empty buildings.

Today, thousands of people are on Molesworth Street to protest the fact that their sector is being hammered. One man said his business is operating on quicksand and the Government is hiking the cost of doing business. The sector faces the most expensive electricity and among the dearest fuel costs in the whole of Europe. At the same time, businesses are being hammered on the tax side. The owners of small cafés, restaurants and pubs are hardly making a living, but are being put into the same category as massive hotels in Dublin that make millions of euro in profit. Will the Government consider splitting those two elements? In reality, there are two separate sectors with two separate business models. Will the Government reduce the VAT rate from 23% to 9% for those businesses? They are the heart and soul of most areas. If they are not allowed to function, the heart and soul of so many towns will be ripped out.

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