Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I rise today to raise a number of issues. The first is that the post office in Castleconnell in County Limerick is temporarily closed but I thank Local Link Limerick Clare which is running a bus service from this Friday. It is running buses at appropriate times from O'Briensbridge past places like Lisnagry and Castleconnell to Newport where people now have to collect their payments for the month of December. If people want to contact Local Link, they will find the timetable and the times the buses are running from their local area.

There was also a temporary closure of the post office in Castletroy and that reopened this morning at 11 o'clock. I wish the new postmaster and their team all the best in Castletroy Shopping Centre. Castletroy is a huge area and to be left without a local post office would have had a detrimental effect on everyone, especially the older people, in the area.

We debated the Finance Bill in the House last night and the 9% VAT for the hospitality industry was raised. Mr. Stephen O'Connor, chairperson of the Shannon branch of the Irish Hotels Federation has spoken about rising energy costs, bills and other costs associated with the hotel industry. We should have a debate as soon as possible on tourism and its future because in 2019, the hospitality industry employed 272,000 people. Certainly, while numbers are up in certain hotels, they are still below what they were in 2019. We need to have a meaningful debate as to where we are going with tourism and what we can do, and also around the retention of the 9% VAT rate.