Minister pressing for 9% VAT rate to be extended

The Minister for Tourism has said she is pressing for the temporarily reduced VAT rate for tourism and hospitality to be extended further.  Introduced to help assist the recovery of the sectors, the 9% rate is due to return to 13.5% at the end of August.  However, Catherine Martin said the issue is ultimately one for the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe.

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Earlier she told the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation that she appreciates the concern within the industry about the issue.

"Everything has to be kept under review because we are in a state of flux and because of the current crisis in Ukraine," she said.  Speaking to the media afterwards, Ms Martin said record levels of funding had already been provided to the sector in the last budget.

"I think we are in a positive place and from my engagement with industry from any engagements I've done abroad as well there is pent up demand and tourists want to come back to Ireland," she said.

Asked about what she would advise tourism providers to do to ensure Ireland didn't get a reputation as a high cost destination amid rising inflation, Ms Martin said the industry needs to look at value for money.

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