Arklow Credit Union expands services offered to members Hoteliers unhappy as Budget keeps VAT rate at 13.5%
ARKLOW CREDIT UNION has announced that its range of services now includes foreign exchange.
This is available to members of the credit union in their Castlepark office during opening hours. Members can order foreign currency before 12 p.m. and have it available for collection on the next day.
An up-to-date list of exchange rates for both purchases and sales will be on display in the Banking Hall daily.
Commenting on the announcement, Hugh O’Keeffe, Arklow Credit Union CEO said,
‘We are delighted to be able to cater for our member’s Foreign Exchange requirements here at our office in Castlepark. This is in response to members’ requests and is another addition to Arklow Credit Union’s range of financial service offerings. Also, it is worth noting members 55 years or over can avail of this service commission free.
‘Being able to avail of Arklow Credit Union’s easy parking and collect your foreign currency on a Saturday as you ease your way towards your trip are two of the advantages our members have highlighted to us as reasons why they asked us to offer Foreign Exchange as a service. I’m glad now we can,’ Mr O’Keeffe added.
Among the first members to avail of the service was Councillor Pat Fitzgerald, Cathaoirleach of Arklow Municipal District. WICKLOW hoteliers have criticised the Budget as a missed opportunity to support tourism.
A lot of the criticism has been aimed at the Government’s decision not to reverse the tourism VAT hike, which came into effect following last year’s budget.
Brian McNamara, Chair of the Irish Hotel Federation (IHF) Wicklow branch said the increase in VAT from 9 per cent to 13.5 per cent has seriously undermined Irish tourism’s international competitiveness and the ability of tourism enterprises such as hotels to re-invest in their business and local economy.
‘Budget 2020 is heralded as a Budget for Brexit. Despite the serious challenges facing tourism, Government has failed to recognise the importance of competitiveness and its role in the ever increase in the cost of doing business in Ireland,’ said Mr McNamara.
‘This is a missed opportunity to rebalance the tax take from tourism at a time when economic indicators provide significant warning of a change in outlook.’
He feels the Government has failed to recognise challenges facing hotel and guest house owners, such as a Ireland’s high cost economy and Brexit.
‘Our industry has been one of the great success stories of the economy in recent years, supporting 270,000 jobs and promoting balanced regional growth across the country,’ said Mr McNamara. ‘Here in Wicklow it supports 13,900 jobs and contributes some €135m to the local economy annually. It is therefore disappointing that the Government has failed to recognise the exceptional challenges now confronting tourism businesses. A rate of 9 per cent VAT is the appropriate level for Ireland and would put us mid-range in a European context. This is what the Government should be looking at to ensure long-term sustainable growth of our industry.
‘Ireland is already a very highcost economy by international standards which adds to the challenges of an indigenous export industry and this is being made worse by the higher 13.5 per cent VAT. We are now in a situation where we have a higher rate of tourism VAT than 27 European countries with which we compete. Add to this the challenges around Brexit and the 27 per cent drop in the value of Sterling in recent years and you have a perfect storm.’
Mr McNamara states that the impact is being felt on the ground by tourism businesses with 57 per cent of hotels having seen a fall in overall business levels this year according to recent research by the IHF. The UK market is very challenging with 78 per cent of hotels having seen a fall-off in business from Great Britain and 60 per cent a decrease from Northern Ireland.