Tourism sector does NOT deserve reduced VAT rate

‘…due to thin margins a VAT increase will have to be passed on to the consumer’ wrote Eoghan O’Mara Walsh on Monday, in a well-argued opinion piece from his viewpoint as chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation.

Mr Walsh, however, makes no reference to the fact that the earlier VAT decrease wasn’t reciprocally implemented to the benefit of the consumer with any great exactitude and no mention either of how many of our citizens, in the aftermath of two previous ‘Covid summers’, were exploited by some notable stakeholders in the tourist and hospitality industry when taking holidays and family breaks, especially last year.

It must not be forgotten that as the nation was battling the onset and spread of Covid, the public generously adopted the principle of ‘we are all in this together’. Too often the tourist industry didn’t quite see it that way and for this lack of respect and empathy for its No.1 customer, the Irish public, Minister [Catherine] Martin should not hesitate to reinstitute the 13.5% VAT rate for the tourist and hospitality sector at the beginning of next month.

Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.

Bewildered Bertie!

BERTIE AHERN is said to be back from the political wilderness, but could this mean that he’s arrived at the point where he might be seen as very bewildered?

Robert Sullivan, Bantry, Co. Cork.

Coveney’s new home

I READ with great annoyance in John Drennan’s article (MoS, February 5), that minister Simon Coveney has bought a new home for €900,000 and that the total value of the property and site could be €1.4m.

I remember when Simon was appointed as minister for housing him saying that he would solve the housing crisis. Now I know what he meant. He has certainly done so – in his own case.

I note in the article that his new home is suitable either for a retirement or nursing home. I suggest that the voters in whichever constituency he resides in at the next election, ensure that is exactly what it becomes for him.

John Kelly, Myshall, Co. Carlow.

Refreshing Enoch

IN ALL the twists and turns of the long-running Enoch Burke saga, the affair conjures up the spectre of a transgender school student obliged to deal with an intensely personal transition.

Mr Burke wants his religious endorsement to be upheld in his workplace and says he is unable or unwilling to comply with Wilson’s Hospital School instruction as it is anathema to his religious beliefs. Undeterred by the threat of daily fines of €700 now running into thousands of euro, he turned up again and again at Wilson’s Hospital School in Multyfarnham. Woody Allen once said that 80% of success in life is just showing up. George Orwell said: ‘Sanity is not statistical.’

And being part of a small familial tribe that has Enoch Burke at loggerheads with the board of management of a private Church of Ireland school makes it refreshing to see him standing up for his conscientious beliefs. There is a close parallel between his case and that of Ashers Bakery in Belfast that steadfastly refused to produce a cake featuring the Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie in 2014 for Gareth Lee, who campaigned to legalise same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled the claim was inadmissible because the applicant had not expressly invoked his rights under the European Convention on Human

Rights at any point in the domestic proceedings and relied solely on domestic law.

The legal routes open to Mr Burke include taking a case for unfair dismissal to the Workplace Relations Commission and seeking leave for a judicial review. His case could eventually make its way to the ECHR in Strasbourg, in order to give clarity to the subject of conscientious objection.

Gerry Coughlan, Dublin 24.

Bailout silence

I READ recently that the Government is ‘unlikely’ to recoup €29bn of taxpayers’ money that was used to rescue three banks – AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB. This information was included in a confidential document given to the Minister for Finance Mr Michael McGrath on December 17.

Why is there such a deafening silence in Dáil Éireann on this matter?

Pat O’Callaghan, Mallow, Co. Cork.