Results 1,081-1,100 of 11,470 for speaker:Mary Butler

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: I support Senator Reilly. To add some context, on the night of the all-Ireland hurling final between Waterford and Galway, the hotel I will stay in tonight, which usually costs €108, quoted me €269. When I asked why, they said it was because it was the all-Ireland final. It bears out the Senator's point. It is a huge increase. We have found that especially if one is living...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: We will have the president of the Irish Hotels Federation in with us in about ten minutes' time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: Are there any further comments? No. I thank the witnesses for coming here today to engage with the committee. It was the first of four sessions on the issue that we will have between now and December and we hope to have a document produced in January. All members of the committee were very conscious of the fact that we wanted to look at this properly. In our next session we have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: From the Irish Hotels Federation I welcome Mr. Tim Finn, chief executive officer, and Mr. Joseph Dolan, president. By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the joint committee. If, however, they are directed by it to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to do so, they are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: I would like to come in there because I do not believe it is media hype and headlines. I will give an example. I am a Deputy from Waterford. When I come up on a Tuesday, I stay two nights and get a very good rate of €108 in a hotel quite close by where I am looked after very well. On the first Sunday in September when the all-Ireland hurling final took place, I looked for the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: I ask the Chairman to allow the witnesses to respond.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: Mr. Fenn has accepted that there is a problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: His contention is that there is a problem 30 nights of the year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: I suggest that the federation, having accepted there is a problem 30 nights of the year, could be in danger of losing the golden egg, as Senator Reilly called it. All political parties have had huge discussions about the lower VAT rate that applies to this sector. It has been suggested that the rate could be maintained outside the greater Dublin area. Mr. Fenn has accepted it is a problem...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: I understand that. I ask the representatives of the overseeing body to bring back the message they are hearing on the ground.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: We are hearing it all the time. Like my colleagues, I travel to Dublin every week. We have to book hotel rooms, so we are very aware of the prices that are being charged and of the existence of capacity issues. If we do not book in advance, it is hard to get a room during the week or at the weekend. This issue has been the subject of a great deal of discussion. I think the federation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: What percentage of hotels are members of the Irish Hotels Federation? I presume plenty of hotels all over the country have not joined this umbrella group.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: A substantial percentage of hotels and guesthouses are members of the federation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: If there are 820 hotels and 200 guesthouses in Ireland, or 1,020 businesses in total, approximately three quarters of them are members of the federation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: We have spoken about the 9% tax rate and in our earlier session today we spent a lot of time talking about rates, particularly from the perspective of small and medium industries and retail. Will Mr. Fenn comment further on that? In the earlier session we found rates to be a huge issue because it is a cost people feel unable to control.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: In general?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: That must be very welcome.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: Has this roll-out been very slow? We heard in the earlier session that the 31 local authorities operate different rates systems. Is the roll-out happening more quickly in some counties than in others?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: Would Mr. Fenn say that the hotels that got the new, fair valuations are much happier than those still under the older system because many of them have seen a reduction in rates?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Butler: Is it taken into account that those in a coastal area, for example, might not be doing business in the winter months? I find the point raised by Senator Reilly to be very interesting. I remember calling into a lady who does bed and breakfast, and she only does so from April to September and not during the winter. Her complaint was that she had to pay rates for the year. Mr. Fenn is saying...