Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Boyhan with regard to asking the Minister with responsibility for inland fisheries to come to the Chamber. I compliment Senator Kyne on the battle he has fought, going back to last May, in respect of IFI. I see a huge change in what is happening in IFI. I was nominated by IFI to stand for the Seanad on a number of occasions. It is very sad to see what is going on in our inland fisheries as it is a national resource. In the west we have five of the best fishing lakes the country, if not in Europe. The River Moy is one of the best salmon rivers in Europe. There is a lot at stake and, as a matter of urgency, the Minister should come to the House.

I would also like to support Senator Lombard in regard to maintaining the 9% VAT for small restaurants, bars, barbers and other such small businesses. The VAT rate affects small businesses because they cannot increase their costs. They face significant costs which have increased drastically over the past number of months. Keeping the VAT rate at 9% would be a great boost for those people. These businesses are major employers in the country and do not look for anything from the State, in the main. Even if we had to decouple the VAT rate from accommodation, that should be done. I do not see any problem with doing that because there are different VAT rates within the service industry.There is a different VAT rate for drink than there is for food which is 23% against 9% or 13.5%. So there are different VAT rates within the industry as it is and I do not go along with Revenue when it says it is a problem to charge different VAT rates and that there would be a rush from one type of food to drink or vice versa. I do not agree with that. I support Senator Lombard on that and ask the Government, even if we have to bring the Minister to the House, to do whatever we can to maintain that VAT rate at 9%.