VAT cut delivers Clare jobs boost

The Restaurant Association of Ireland has said 547 new jobs have been created in the food, tourism and hospitality sectors in Clare since the reduced VAT rate of 9% was introduced in July 2011.

To highlight the scale of job creation, a new report compares the number of direct new jobs to a major local employer, revealing that the 547 extra jobs created in Clare is more than double the number of employees also employed in Clare by Shannon Airport.

Speaking about the success of the reduced VAT rate, Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said, “As this report proves, in terms of creating new jobs in the food and accommodation sector, the introduction of the new VAT rate in July 2011 has been a major driver of local employment growth. 547 new direct jobs have been created in Clare alone, with 21,633 new direct jobs created across the whole country.

“This is a very conservative estimate and does not include the number of indirect jobs created in the wider economy as a result of the multiplier effect. When the multiplier effect is included, the total number of new jobs is even more impressive, with 799 jobs created in Clare and 31,584 jobs created nationally. More recent CSO figures released for Q2 show even greater employment statistic increases.”

The report entitled, 9% VAT ; Food, Tourism; Jobs & Rebuilding Ireland’s Economy, uses national employment data from the Central Statistics Office. The report examines the impact of the introduction of the new VAT rate in July 2011, when it was reduced from 13.5% to 9% for tourism related services and goods.
The report covers the direct and indirect number of jobs created, an estimate of social welfare savings as well as the increase in revenue for the Exchequer (PAYE, USC and PRSI Employer contribution) at a county and national level.