Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last week, I raised the issue of what I believed to be a trend in the Irish hospitality sector to increase prices across the board. I instanced a personal experience I had which in some quarters was received with tongue in cheek. I was, however, trying to make an important point which it seems has now been borne out by the most recent statistics published in today's media. They show that Ireland has moved from being the 34th most expensive country last year to the 21st this year.

I regret to say that one of the premier tourist locations in this country - I would say it is the premier one outside of Dublin - namely, Killarney, has not come out of that survey very well. I would suggest to the hospitality sector not to be tempted, because there is an upturn in the economy, to increase its prices. Costs have been kept down in recent years and, given the current fragile state of the Irish economy and particularly in light of a slight improvement in tourism revenue and numbers in the last year, there is no justification for the sector to increase its prices at this stage. There should be a period of patience and waiting. If there is any justification for it, I would like to see it. I would like to hear from the Irish Hotels Federation and the tourism interests why they are justifying these increases in prices. It will damage the Irish tourism industry, perhaps not so much in Dublin, where tourism is booming, but in other parts of the country that are struggling. This is particularly the case in my own area, the north west, which traditionally has had to fight very hard and go that extra mile to increase and attract more visitors. In this I include the entire north west and the Border counties.

I make a plea to the Leader that the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, or the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, or both, would come before the House and indicate what is Government policy in this regard. They are the first out of the blocks, as any Minister would be, whenever there is good news to be imparted to the public. This is not a good news story; it is a bad news story for Ireland. I would like to hear from the Ministers responsible as to what it is they believe should be done to encourage the Irish hospitality sector to hold the line on this and not to be tempted to increase prices just because there is a slight upturn in the tourism sector.