Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

I respectfully ask the Tánaiste to reflect on the decision to reduce the VAT rate for the hospitality industry. On mature reflection, the Government might reverse this totally baseless and unbelievable decision. The State is proposing to gift millions of euro to a very small number of very large and very profitable businesses. I suggest that the Government fell for a fierce lobbying campaign that was effectively a scam. There is no crisis in the hospitality industry. Small local cafés and restaurants have a legitimate case for support but the main industry is thriving. The facts speak for themselves: as profits in this country between 2019 and 2025 are up by 72%; 73% of small and medium enterprises have reported making a profit higher than pre-Covid years; employment is up; and hospitality is up by 6.8%, while the national figure is 3.5%. It does not look like a crisis. There are 15,370 businesses in food and beverage services. Of these, 99.8% employ fewer than 250 people, making up 85% of the turnover. What we have is the State subsidising a very small number of very large, very profitable businesses. To give a few examples: McDonald's, profits up 17% to €42.4 million, a gain of €20 million; Supermac's, profits up 28% to €43.6 million, a gain of €12.5 million; Domino's, €280 million Irish turnover, a gain of €12.5 million; Krispy Kreme, a gain of €635,000; Compass Catering, €130.4 million turnover, a €5.8 million, and Sodexo, profits up by 44%, a gain of €5 million. These six large companies share €54 million of a windfall gift from the Government, in a country where we have 640,000 people living below the poverty line, including 190,000 children. Will the Tánaiste accept that the Government has, let us say, made an error in judgment or a miscalculation, or even that the Government was misled, and reverse this totally unnecessary decision and bring forward a targeted proposal to support small, local cafés and restaurants with moderate turnover?

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