Deirdre Clune

Fine Gael

Ireland South MEP

October 10th 2017

I welcome Minister Donohoe’s decision not to interfere with 9% VAT rate

I wrote to the Minister last week asking him not to raise the 9% VAT rate for tourism providers following on from the Ministers appearance before the Oireachtas Budgetary Oversight Committee on September 27th 2017 where he stated that an increase in the 9% VAT rate was under consideration for Budget 2017.

Today is a good day for rural tourism. The lower tourism VAT rate is hugely beneficial for the creation of jobs and growth within the tourism sector, and in particular for the SMEs and small local businesses that operate within this area.

I have seen first hand how this reduced 9% VAT rate has helped create more tourism jobs in parts of rural Ireland. One argument used by those advocating for an increase in this rate is that hotels and restaurants are booming and will be able to tolerate an additional financial burden. This may be the case in Dublin and other big cities but from speaking to local restaurant and hotel businesses in Cork and over the South of Ireland, I can assure you that a large number of these facilities depend on this rate for their livelihood. An increase would have been economically damaging for them, even a nominal one, with a knock on effect on jobs.

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