Carr calls for bedroom tax to ensure booming hotel sector gives back to Dublin

Former Dublin Lord Mayor and City Councillor, Brendan Carr, has renewed his call for the introduction of a hotel bedroom tax following the release of new statistics which indicate the sector is booming.

Cllr Carr said: “A new independent survey by accountancy firm Crowe Horwath indicates that the average profit on each hotel room in Ireland grew from €11,990 in 2015 to €14,558 in 2016. This continues a massive upturn for the industry in recent years. The average cost of a room in Dublin now stands at €128, up from almost €112 last year and well ahead of the previous record of €121, set in 2006.

“Last year when I was elected Lord Mayor I proposed the introduction of a 1% hotel room tax, to be used to support arts and cultural events in the city. A similar levy is imposed by many European and American cities.

“Projections have indicated that such a levy could could yield €3 million a year for art initiatives in the city. Such a scheme would benefit the tourist industry as a whole and also ensure the long term sustainable future of the hotel sector by ensuring that our city continued to develop cultural attractions on a year round basis.

He added: “Workers must also benefit from the upturn in the hotel sector. The Government introduced a 9% VAT rate for this sector in 2011. This has ensured increased profits. However, such tax based incentives should be accompanied by social obligations. Accordingly, VAT rates in the hotel sector should be restored to their original level of 13.5% unless the employers enter into the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) process and negotiate in good faith.

“In this process issues such as low pay, if and when contracts and lack of hours for workers could all be dealt with by agreement between unions and employers.”