THE hospitality sector badly needs some positive measures in next week’s budget, according to Maurice Walsh of Durty Nelly’s in Bunratty.
He says there is a real danger that come businesses will close if action is not taken.
“The sentiment that is out there is that an awful lot of people are hanging on, and if there is no change, they won’t be hanging on for much longer,” he said.
VAT in the sector reverting from 9% to 13.5% has caused huge problems, he claimed.
“As a business, what we would be looking for, though it seems to be falling on deaf ears, is a reduction in VAT. The thing about VAT is the government increased it by 50% in relation to food, it is bringing in an extra €600 million for the Government, they don’t want to relinquish that,” he said.
“There was a suggestion of 11%, rather than 13.5% but that seems to be falling on deaf ears as well, but we’d be hopeful something would happen in relation to VAT on food.
“I spoke to Charlie O’Meara of the Vintners Federation and they are hoping for a reduction in VAT on drink and on excise duty.
“They don’t feel there is going to be any movement, but they would like to see it. Also we would be looking to see assistance for small businesses.”
He said that he is aware of one hotel in North Clare that is set to close its restaurant from next week, as the rise in costs has meant it has become unviable.
He also feels that businesses such as his own can’t increase prices in the way that would be done in more urban areas.
“I was at the Ireland Greece match in Dublin and at a pub on Baggot Street it cost €14.70 for a pint of Guinness and a pint of Carlsberg. The same two pints in Ennis would be €11.10,” he said.
“There’s a big difference between the prices in Dublin and the west of Ireland. You can’t put up your prices because you’ll lose customers, you can’t follow the trend in Dublin because you don’t have the population or footfall.”
Mr Walsh said that some employee focused measures would also be welcome next week.
“I suppose we would welcome anything in relation to allowances for employees, there may be some advantage for employers in relation to the USC and we would be hoping the Government would move the thresholds in relation to tax brackets to allow employees in hospitality to avail of a better tax regime going forward,” he said.
“What it would mean for industry would be that a suggested increase in the minimum wage could be diverted by these allowances. We would welcome anything related to the support of employees.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.