Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for a very significant industry in the country. He spoke eloquently about the west Cork experience. As he will know, the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, has been hounding me on this issue, as has the Minister, Deputy Foley, from the Kerry perspective. All the counties where hospitality is particularly strong in the summer period have been strong advocates for an initiative along the lines of the one the Deputy is proposing. The budget will be an investment in the future of the country. The first phase of that was announced in the national development plan in terms of infrastructure, water, electricity, energy, public transport, road transport and digital health. These are fundamentals that simply have to happen for the future of the country. The other area is competitiveness, stronger investment in research and development and also competitiveness of certain sectors like hospitality.

The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment did a study over a year ago on the impact of increased labour costs and increased costs generally on small businesses. It was accepted that the hospitality sector bore the brunt of many of the extra costs such as the bank holiday cost, the additional sick leave, the minimum wage increases and the approximation to the living wage, and found them difficult to absorb. That is well documented in the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment’s document. The Restaurant Association of Ireland commissioned the economist Anthony Foley to do some work on the correlation between reduced VAT rates in the past and job creation in a specific sector. A lot of work has been done on that.

I am not in a position to indicate what will actually happen on budget day itself but I recognise that this is a very important issue. In the context of the global situation - the turbulence, the tariffs and all of that - investment in infrastructure is key. We are putting a lot of money aside too. By the end of next year, there will be €22 billion in our Future Ireland Fund. That is a substantial fund despite what is being said about our being reckless with the public finances. We are putting substantial amounts of money to one side but we want to maintain competitiveness in domestic industries such as the hospitality sector. We will certainly be examining all of the issues the Deputy has identified.

I think we need a bit of perspective in the debate as well. I am not quite sure everything in some of these establishments is nightmarish. I spent a few evenings in west Cork. I had better be careful what I say. I was not able to participate in any lock-ins for obvious reasons, but that might be what is behind the Deputy’s reference to nightmarish experiences the following day. It was a very pleasant experience. People need a break in terms of viability and that is where we are focused.

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