Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is ironic that we are talking about the Social Welfare Bill on a day when the hospitality sector, as well as hairdressers, shopkeepers and childcare workers, all marched across Dublin and arrived at Leinster House today. Many speakers raised the issues with the VAT rate and spoke about how many closures we will have in the hospitality sector. Many people who spoke about it showed how many businesses would close down because of the Government's failure to protect the hospitality sector and all of the other businesses. I am telling the Minister that the cost of having all of these people on social welfare will be a cost to the State.

If one looks at the VAT rate and the business model, I note the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, appeared on television speaking about how the number of businesses opening up exceeded the number of businesses that were closing down. What he forgot to mention was that all those businesses that open up get funded for two years from Enterprise Ireland and other sources. After two years, they are closing. Moreover, the businesses that are there for decades cannot stay open because of the increasing costs. Why not look after our businesses and our people in our areas to ensure there is the future for hospitality and other businesses in this country?

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