Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The reason I do not oppose this section is I think there is a question of ensuring, going into this summer and thinking of seasonal locations and operators, that there is no negative impact in the immediate future. When we did a blunt financial analysis, both times it led to the VAT rate going up but what is needed is a sectoral analysis that is more nuanced and would include the sectoral employment order issue as well as looking at how we support seasonal operators, small businesses and those in the hospitality sector who are not in the overnight business but in the ancillary businesses, including those parts of the industry related to just transition. We are hoping to find some space in terms of just transition within the hospitality sector for areas that would have been engaged in other employments that cannot continue. There is a lot happening.

In laying out these points, I am trying to point to the need not to simply have a discussion in August again. If this is about to expire at some point, it is important to have a plan for what comes next and, as the Minister of State has outlined, that what comes next recognises the diversity of actors and needs in the sector and does not end up simply serving the largest and most profitable actors.

I am happy to withdraw the recommendations for now. I wanted to make sure we have that discussion. There is great expertise and I encourage that it not become a siloed conversation, whereby the conversation about sectoral employment orders only happens in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and that about VAT only happens in the Department of Finance; meanwhile, we have tourism, culture and just transition. There is a need for a holistic approach to the hospitality industry and a joined-up strategy. If this is a blunt instrument, especially if it is one that is on the way out, we must look to other effective instruments we will bring in to strategically help the industry in the future. I acknowledge there are many reasons people have left but this has been reported as one of the key reasons by research based on speaking to those who have left the sector and remained in Ireland.

I hope we have opportunities for engagement and do not find ourselves at the next crisis point discussing VAT on its own again. I know that is not the Minister of State’s intention, but we have seen it wax and wane: 14%, 13.5%, 9% and back. There is an opportunity to use this time constructively.