Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It would be a win for the country. The EU comparison made by the Minister of State only supports the point being made by Senators from all groups, which, I recognise, is unusual. Let us do it differently. Ours is an island nation on the fringe of Europe. The Minister of State mentioned Spain. I am trying to figure out what Spain is doing in respect of this matter. Who visits Spain the most? It is British tourists who do so. In fact, 18 million UK tourists wen there in 2019. I contacted people I know in Spain who are in politics to see if they are planning to change their rules in light of the numbers of British tourists who travel there but who are resident in Britain. I wait to hear back but I have no reason to believe that Spain is changing the rules. Why are we doing it?

Tax-free shopping is simple. Senator Casey has said time and again that it is a simple message. Businesses need that type of simple message as it has been for 35 years.

Senator Buttimer referred to Exchequer projections. I understand that a €75 threshold rule would remove more than 50% of transactions and 16% of sales and would be linked to 470% of job losses in retail.I will leave it there. Those are the notes I had made in the last series of contributions.