Irish Hotels Federation Annual Conference

This week, as you know, we marked the second anniversary of the new Government. It hasn’t been an easy two years. Unemployment remains stubbornly high, and families are struggling to make ends meet, whether it’s due to falling incomes or rising prices, or the problems of personal or mortgage debt. And as you all know, a lot of businesses are struggling, including hotels in what is a very difficult environment.

But if you look at things in the round – and it is always important to look at things in the round – enormous progress has been made in the past two years. In the three years before the election, some 250,000 jobs were lost. Now the number of people at work is rising again including in the food service and accommodation sector.

The bank bailouts are over, and the promissory note, bank guarantee, IBRC, Anglo Irish Bank, and Irish Nationwide are at long last being consigned to history. A few months before the election, Ireland was shut out of the bond markets. The troika had arrived, and the budget deficit was out of control. Now the deficit is coming down, we have re-entered the bond markets, and hopefully by this time next year the Troika will be gone home for good.

We have pioneered political reform. There is now an effective ban on corporate donations – something that was promised for years but which did not happen. Quotas for female candidates will be in place for the next general election, to give more people an opportunity to vote for a female candidate from the party of their choice.

We are undertaking the most radical reform of local government since 1898 with a dramatic reduction in the number of councillors and the number of councils, coupled to a major increase in their power. And the Constitutional Convention has been established to bring about the biggest overhaul of our Constitution since 1937.

One thing in particular the Government has done is to put tourism up there with inward investment, ICT, pharmachem, and agri-food as a driver of growth. That’s not just words, it’s actions too.

The VAT rate for tourism has been reduced to 9%, there has been a reduction in employers’ PRSI, and an easing of the Universal Social Charge for seasonal workers. The visa waiver scheme for long-term visitors was launched, and I have championed improved air access. There is a new VAT threshold for SMEs, and we have ongoing capital investment in tourism attractions, cycling and walking Greenways, and in museums all over the country.

A fuel rebate for coaches will be introduced in July. And the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme, the EIIS, has been extended to include tourism accommodation for two years. This followed intense and successful lobbying by Tim Fenn of the Hotels Federation, of both my Department and the Department of Finance.

And of course, there is the Gathering.

Another important area is statistics, and I know this is a matter of great concern to the Hotels Federation. We need to have up-to-date statistics. Michael Vaughan of the IHF made this argument very well in his Irish Times article some months ago. When you’re running a business, and you’re planning a business, it’s no use having statistics from six months ago that arrive a quarter late.

But we have engaged with the CSO on this issue, and I’m very happy to confirm that we are going to see some big changes in this area. It’s already the case that we now have monthly statistics again, with visitor numbers for the three previous months now published again on a monthly basis.

In the next few weeks we will have the detailed statistics for 2012 telling us the breakdown of holidaymakers, people visiting friends and relatives, and business travellers. 2012 is only just over. Up until now we have to wait a year for these statistics.

Also, the quarterly tourism and travel statistics which give details on spend and length of stay will now come out within 12 to 16 weeks of that quarter ending, so we will have detailed and up-to-date statistics again.

Finally, I just want to say three more things. First of all, in relation to the VAT rate of 9%, I want that continued through 2014 and beyond. But I need your help to make that case.

As you know, the VAT reduction costs the Exchequer €350 million a year. That’s a lot of money. So to help me with that case, what I don’t need is special pleading about how the industry is struggling. Every industry is struggling. What I need from you is evidence that this policy has worked, and that the number of people employed in the sector is increasing. For example, I was delighted to see from the conference that more than 50% of hoteliers are planning to take on more staff.

In relation to the Gathering, as you know 3,000 events are now confirmed, and there are thousands more that we don’t know about. What I need is hoteliers to get behind the Gathering, and get actively involved in organising, supporting and promoting events.

I also need you to make sure that visitors’ experiences are positive, and that we avoid any allegations of over-pricing or bad value. If people have a good experience, they are more likely to come back. And that’s the best way to increase revenue.

And finally, I want to acknowledge Martin Naughton who’s here today. Martin was instrumental in organising the Notre Dame vs Navy American college football game. It was an incredible event, and not just for Dublin, but brought benefits all over the country. This was one of those unusual events where the result exceeded the expectation immeasurably. I just hope that this event can happen again, perhaps in 2015 or 2016.

So once again thank you for inviting me. I hope you’ve had a very good conference. I’ve really enjoyed working with the Hotels Federation in a co-operative way in the last two years and I look forward to doing many more things together in the next two.