Ray Butler (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is not good enough to see bed prices rising up to anything between €300 and €600 per night. The prices of drink and food are going through the roof. When beds cannot be sold for €300 to €600 the prices are dropped to absolutely nothing online to get rid of them. They are conning people. One sees bottles of Heineken for €6 and pints of Guinness for €7 to €10. There is new aspect now, a famous stroke, where prices are put up when the bell strikes midnight because the proprietors are paying for extensions. They say it is the only way to get money. The price of a pint of lager can be €7 to €10.

Unfortunately, there is a huge urban-rural divide. There are rural hotels down the country which give great value. It is totally different in Dublin. Rural hotels are giving great value to try to keep their doors open, but here in the greater Dublin area there is a system of ripping people off. If the industry cannot behave and charge people proper prices, we cannot stand behind the 9% VAT rate in the greater Dublin area. I would like the Minister to come in here to discuss this issue because it gives us a bad name internationally when tourists from the United States and Germany come here and see these prices.They must be horrified by what is taking place. Let us bring in representatives of hotels, as we did with the banks, and tell them they must play the game or we will increase the rate of VAT.