Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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373. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to support the retail and hospitality sectors facing cost pressures; including through changes to VAT or PRSI, as signalled in the Programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51443/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My Government colleagues and I recognise that the cost of doing business has been an issue for many firms in recent years, including those operating in the retail and hospitality sectors. This has arisen from both the wider inflationary trends – particularly, energy costs – as well as Government mandated changes in the form of improvements to working conditions across a range of areas. It is, however, important to note that costs for firms - as measured through the CSO’s Wholesale Price Index - are declining. These are down 3% in the 12 months to August 2025.

Most recently, the Government has taken action to address business costs through the publication of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity in the last month, and the convening of the Cost of Business Advisory Forum. In each case, there represent delivery on key commitments under the Programme for Government.

The focus of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity is on actions that can be taken to strengthen Ireland’s competitiveness and productivity by focussing on those areas within our own domestic sphere of control. The development of the Action Plan was informed by extensive consultation across Government and with external stakeholders. Key actions areas include better regulation, addressing Ireland’s high legal costs, and improving competition in our markets.

Complementary to this, the Cost of Business Advisory Forum has already met on four occasions so far. The Forums’ key objective is to examine and identify the concerns of enterprise around the impact of the rising cost of doing business in Ireland by creating a structured space where business owners and representative bodies can speak directly to decision-makers about the real-world impact of regulations, fees, and operational challenges.

The findings of the Forum will inform a report and set of recommendations to Government to address immediate to short term issues that merit a changed approach, and those steps that can be taken to mitigate these issues to ensure businesses navigating today’s economic landscape remain a competitive, resilient and supportive environment for enterprise.

With regards to VAT and PRSI specifically, I would note that the Programme for Government 2025 – Securing Ireland’s Future makes the following commitment with regards to ‘Supporting Small Business, Hospitality and Retail’: The Government will bring forward measures to support SMEs, in particular the retail and hospitality sectors, acknowledging the increased cost pressures on these sectors and this will entail changes to VAT, PRSI and other measures. These measures will be implemented as part of the normal budget process.

Ultimately, changes to the VAT rate are the prerogative of the Minister for Finance and changes to the PRSI system are a prerogative of the Minister for Social Protection. I have, however, been engaging actively with my Ministerial colleagues on these matters and I have instructed my officials to do likewise.