Senator Garret Ahearn has made the plea in the Upper House of the Oireachtas as more Tipperary restaurants have joined the growing list of businesses in the hospitality sector announcing their closure.
The Fine Gael representative is seeking a debate with Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Simon Coveney on the crisis facing the industry.
“There’s two restaurants in Tipperary Town that closed in the last number of days – Prime 74 and Flanagan’s Lane – two fantastic restaurants with a huge reputation over the last number of years and it’s a devastating blow for the town.
“Now we have other restaurants opening up in other towns. There’s one opening up in Cahir, there’s two that just opened up recently in Clonmel and Cashel is doing really, really well. But we do have a problem with Tipperary Town and we have a problem with certain restaurants and hospitality sectors that are struggling.”
Senator Garret Ahearn says the government needs to understand the challenges facing businesses in the hospitality sector.
“There are short term things we can do but in the long term we really need to be realistic about our VAT rate and recognise that there’s different areas. Like we can’t justify having a 9% VAT rate for hotels in Dublin that are making thousands upon thousands upon thousands of profit – but there are restaurants and pubs in my county that are really struggling that would benefit. And in the long term we really need to be looking at a VAT rate separate for those of 9% and for big hotels in Dublin at 13.5%.”
