Hundreds of hospitality workers will be taking to the streets of Dublin today to highlight the number of businesses in the sector that have been forced to close. The organisers say they will march to the Dáil this afternoon in protest at the Government’s failure to recognise that they are an industry in crisis.
Over 700 restaurants, cafés and food businesses have been forced to close their doors in less than a year due to a hike in VAT rates according to the Restaurants Association of Ireland.
People in the hospitality sector have been for months calling for the VAT rate to be cut to 9%, however the Minister for Public Expenditure says this will cost hundreds of millions of euro. "So, the budget already contains measures to help small to medium enterprises," the Minister said, "The decisions that were made in relation to VAT thresholds to help businesses with cashflow at a time which we know that cashflow concerns are for small to medium-sized businesses. It contains the grant of up to €4,000 to help businesses later in the year."
