Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue and ask for a debate, as the budget approaches, on the 9% VAT rate. I come from a rural part of the country where tourism is really important to how we will sustain ourselves in future. Other speakers have mentioned the talk in the media and in political circles about price-gouging and hotels implementing costs for rooms and food which are too high. There is a difference between a family-run hotel in west Cork and a conglomerate based in Dublin. That rural-urban divide in the prices needs to be taken into consideration in the debate. Last weekend, I went to a concert in Croke Park. We drove back to Cork because the closest accommodation we could get had a price range of €500. There is an issue with price-gouging in the capital city.

If one looks at that scenario in other rural areas, whether Cavan, Mayo or Cork, I do not think that is the real issue here. We need to focus on rural tourism and trying to get people into the regions, in places like west Cork. We are affecting that by talking down our industry, which is a real issue. By talking it down and saying there are issues with price gouging, when we do not have such issues, there will be a knock-on implication for the sustainability of rural Ireland.

I met a group of hoteliers last Monday at 7.30 a.m. It was obvious that some would be closing for three months next October, because that is their model. A hotel in Glengarriff would not be open for 12 months of the year. Those hoteliers are looking at a scenario where they bring in Ukrainians or they try to sustain their model to go back into tourism next year. The debate about the 9% VAT rate has to take into account the context of where the hotel is and not tar everyone with the same brush.