Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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588. To ask the Minister for Finance if beauty services will benefit from VAT reduction measures; the basis upon which such decisions were made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19887/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the EU VAT Directive, with which Irish VAT Law must comply, there are provisions under Annex III which allows for a reduced rate of VAT on specific goods and services. Services provided by beauty salons are not listed.

In spite of the fact that beauty salons do not qualify for a reduced rate under Annex III, you should be aware that due to a historic VAT derogation they are already subject to the reduced rate of 13.5%.

This arises from the fact that many of the goods and services to which Ireland applies a reduced rate of VAT, including services related to care of the human body, have their basis under the aforementioned EU derogation that provides that as Ireland applied a reduced rate to these items on 1 January 1991, we are entitled to continue applying that reduced rate to those items. However, this is conditional on the rate being no less than 12%. These are known as ‘parked’ items, and as the services provided by beauticians are part of these parked items, it is not possible for Ireland to apply the second reduced rate of 9% to them.