Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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90. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the fact that employment in the accommodation and food services sector showed an increase in 2012 and that 123,100 people now work in the industry, if he accepts that decent pay and working conditions are vital if the sector is to develop, and that to date this has not been the case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22855/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The wider tourism and hospitality industry employs an estimated 185,000 people and it has traditionally provided a range of careers with diverse skills and with varying levels of pay and remuneration. I have no role in setting the level of pay or working conditions in the sector. However, the Government has taken a number of measures to reduce the cost base of the sector and encourage employment, including the VAT cut to 9%, the reduction in employers PRSI, and raising the exemption threshold for the Universal Social Charge which particularly benefits seasonal workers.