Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman and other Members for facilitating the change in the speaking rota. I commend Senator Casey on putting forward his amendment. I concur with everything he and Senator Buttimer have said. I know this is not the Minister of State's baby and that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, is the line Minister and senior Minister in the Department. I understand the original intention of the measure but I implore the Government to take a step back, reflect and listen to Senators from two Government parties taking issue with this. I assume a Member from the third Government party will also do so; I see Senator Garvey is here. A government should be flexible and willing to move.

The explanation I heard from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, who I assume had been speaking to the Minister for Finance at the meeting of the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU yesterday, is that there was a concern that many UK tourists, who represent the largest body of tourists who come to visit the island, might look for a VAT rebate on fairly small transactions of €20 or €30 and that processing such claims would place an undue burden on the Department. That argument does not stand up to scrutiny. It is not sufficient reason when one listens to all of the arguments against setting the threshold at that level. If the problem is that it would be an inconvenience for the Department or would end up resulting in additional work for it, let us resource the Department.

I completely agree with Senator Casey's point. The fact that we can make visiting Ireland better value for UK tourists is a good thing. We need to do that. The fact that they will be outside of the European Union will, at times, make it more expensive for them to come to visit Ireland. Given that the UK is our biggest tourist market and that our tourism sector is on its knees, this is the wrong time to introduce this threshold. It is the wrong way to go about it. Let us make Ireland better value and more attractive for UK customers. Let us welcome them with open arms and encourage them to buy as much as they can while they are here to support our tourism and hospitality sector.

Senator Casey is right that this measure will affect the small independent retailer rather than the bigger guys. It will affect the smaller guys who sell the hats, T-shirts and smaller trinkets. I still have not heard a reasonable explanation as to why the threshold is not cumulative. The threshold of €75 per transaction seems unduly restrictive and serves to make it almost impossible for the average tourist to claim anything back. We seem to be facilitating the wealthier tourist who is buying lots of items or really expensive items while not looking after the ordinary tourist, which all of us would be if were to travel outside of the European Union. It is the wrong way to go about this and absolutely the wrong time to do it.

There is an amendment coming up which would introduce a new section 68 to require a review of this policy. Let us do it the other way around. Let us set the threshold at zero. Let us have no threshold and then review that in a year's time. If we find that it is harming the country's finances severely or if it has not worked out for another reason, we can review it the other way. Why not start off from a position of not impacting negatively on the small retailer and seeing how that policy has worked in a year's time rather than coming in all guns blazing and introducing a very restrictive scheme which will be too burdensome for the smaller retailer?

I ask that the Minister of State, the Minister and the rest of the team in the Department of Finance reflect on this matter and look at it again. The fact that it would be inconvenient if the Seanad were to accept an amendment which would then have to be sent back to the Dáil to be dealt with before coming back here is not a good enough reason to reject it. These are laws we are putting on the Statute Book. They will have a real impact on people beyond these walls. If we have to come back here on 21 December, we will do that. There is no difficulty with that. We in this House have no difficulty in coming back to do our parliamentary duty and enact the legislation the country needs. We are not under severe pressure to get this Bill passed today. This is not an emergency. We need the Brexit omnibus Bill and there is cross-party support to get it through because we know we need it by the end of year as the changes are to come into effect on 1 January.We have time, however. We have time to make the necessary changes to make sure that this legislation does not cause any unintentional harm to our people, businesses or citizens. Our tourism sector finds itself in an unprecedented situation. The Minister of State has Government Senators on their feet asking him to look at this and to make these changes, and telling him we are willing to come back to him - no problem - whenever needed to make these changes come to pass. We are here to do that work. I ask the Minister of State to request that the senior Minister in the Department, Deputy Donohoe, make a change to this now. I understand that the very same debate and the very same argument was had in Dáil Éireann last week, so we knew this issue was coming and we are hearing it across the board. Our small independent tourism and hospitality businesses are imploring us and pleading with us to make this small change. All it may take is some extra staff in the Department of Finance. Senator Casey's suggestion of setting up an app to make this easier for people to use is a fantastic idea because it will encourage people to spend more. We want them to spend when they are here and to buy Irish and buy local. We tell our own citizens to do that.

We need to put our shoulder to the wheel and do everything we can to support the tourism and hospitality sector. This is the wrong time for this policy measure. It may be something we can reconsider in the future, but we definitely need to look at this in the context of Covid. We need to consider making a change. I ask the Minister of State to do whatever he can. I know he is extremely reasonable and flexible and supports the hospitality and tourism sector. I ask him to see if he can do anything to make this change today and allow us on the Government side to support an amendment to the section.