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EMPICS Sport

Pubs want the government to cut tax on drink because of weaker sterling

The hospitality industry employs 204,000 people.

THE IRISH HOSPITALITY industry wants to be protected from the fallout of Brexit in next week’s Budget.

Yesterday, the pound slumped to a 31-year low against the dollar amid concerns over the timing of Britain’s planned exit from the European Union.

It also hit a three-year low point against the euro.

The weakness in the currency is a challenge for the hospitality industry, which employs over 204,000 people with a combined wage bill of €4.3 billion.

A joint statement from leaders of the industry says that action is needed in the Budget next week.

Donall O’Keeffe, CEO of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) says that should come in the form of cheaper drink.

“We are calling on Minister Noonan to cut excise in the Budget next week as it is a major tax on jobs, tourism and consumers in a time of increasing economic uncertainty”.

Adrian Cummins of the Restaurants Association of Ireland said that the sterling drop made Ireland less attractive to tourists.

Ireland was 19% more expensive between Jan and Oct of 2016 due to sterling’s devaluation. The combination of high excise and the uncertainty over Brexit has caused the perfect storm for the hospitality industry.

“Our high prices are driven primarily by our high excise levels and an excise reduction of 15% would stimulate employment, help to prevent cross border shopping and maintain some degree of attractiveness for UK tourists.

“In a recent poll our members reported an average of 12% downturn for British tourists spend for July and August compared to the same time in 2015.”

Read: “Whatever way you want to dress it up, this is the start of a privatisation plan.”

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49 Comments
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    Mute Cosmo Kramer
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:44 PM

    Most of the alcohol served in Irish pubs is brewed in Ireland. Guinness is more expensive in Temple Bar than it is anywhere on the planet and it’s brewed less than a mile away.. Go figure that one out..

    376
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    Mute Sam Glynn
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:50 PM

    Supposedly the best Guinness in the world is actually brewed and sold in Africa….. I personally wouldn’t know as don’t drink alcohol nor have I ever been to Africa but I’ve heard this a lot over the years

    35
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    Mute Owen Lynch
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:57 PM

    The biggest Guinness brewery in the world is in Benin in Nigeria but the brew taste like monkeys s***e.

    109
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    Mute Neal not Neil
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:59 PM

    It always pays to ask somebody who does drink alcohol, before jumping to conclusions!

    96
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    Mute Sam Glynn
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:03 PM

    Haha well there you have it :-)

    37
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    Mute Eyepopper
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:09 PM

    @Owen Lynch: What sort of money, and are you eating it straight or adding seasoning and stuff?

    10
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    Mute Les Behan
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:10 PM

    A more pressing question is when did Owen discover this taste for monkey shit ?

    58
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    Mute Sam Glynn
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:14 PM

    Wasn’t ‘jumping to conclusions ‘, was relaying information I’ve got of numerous people over the years and also clearly stated I didn’t know for sure if was true since I’ve never drank it or been to Africa.

    19
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    Mute Coles
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:16 PM

    JobBridge at the zoo?

    28
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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:17 PM

    Don’t worry about Neal, he enjoys a wee troll.

    17
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    Mute Bunny
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:32 PM

    Same with Jameson whiskey.

    22
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    Mute James Darcy
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    Oct 6th 2016, 4:03 PM

    Leave the tax on drink as it is. If people didn’t drink to excess it wouldn’t be an issue.

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    Mute Cormac Harrington
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:43 PM

    If I thought for a minute that the pub landlords would pass on the cut to the customers….

    196
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    Mute Peter Jo
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    Oct 5th 2016, 2:09 PM

    How long was the 9% VAT rate reduction take to pass on to the public. Don’t believe for 1 minute any reduction will be passed on to the public to boost employment.

    53
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    Mute alphanautica
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:38 PM

    Surely the price of booze imported from the UK has dropped – will the pubs be passing that on to customers?

    188
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    Mute jane
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:45 PM

    Haha good one.

    85
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    Mute Fred Johnson
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    Oct 5th 2016, 4:21 PM

    @alphanautica:

    The price of imports has dropped. The price of home produced alcohol is unchanged. What exactly is their problem?

    14
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    Mute Coles
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:51 PM

    Record numbers of tourists coming to Ireland and what do the Hotel sector do? They ramp up their room prices by 20% in 2015, making 5 consecutive years of increases.

    http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/average-price-of-irish-hotel-room-rises-15-to-118-per-night-1.2555602

    They already got bailed out with billions of euros with the special low VAT rate and every slave employment scheme going. Brexit is just an another excuse for more gouging. Europe/US/World is a far more important market than the UK.

    108
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    Mute Damien King
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    Oct 5th 2016, 2:45 PM

    @Coles: Visitors from the UK out number any other group (including all Mainland Europe) and account for almost half of the total number of visitors and around a 3rd of total tourism revenue.

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    Mute Coles
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    Oct 5th 2016, 3:19 PM

    British visitors make up 21% of our tourist numbers, but it is worth noting that they are a low value market. A British visitor spends only €320 compared to Mainland Europeans who spend €540 and North Americans who spend €930.

    Trying to attract low value Brits with cheap booze is not what our tourism industry should be doing.

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    Mute Damien King
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    Oct 5th 2016, 3:35 PM

    @Coles: Thats well down on 2015 numbers, out of interest where did you get your figures?

    https://www.tourismireland.com/Marketing/Great-Britain

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    Mute Coles
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    Oct 5th 2016, 3:39 PM
    2
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    Mute Fred Johnson
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    Oct 5th 2016, 4:22 PM

    @Coles:

    Well said. Plenty here want to make us believe we are dependent on the Brits. There’s a big world out there.

    7
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    Mute Whoswho
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    Oct 5th 2016, 5:33 PM

    Why does the headline read Sterling is weaker. The sterling is getting stronger against the euro, if anybody actually bothered to look at the rate. Brexit fallout! Don’t think so

    5
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    Mute Cez Miname
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    Oct 6th 2016, 12:40 AM

    Many of those “low value Brit’s” are Irish visiting home or are Brirish visiting relatives. They also come much more often than the Yanks or Europeans.

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    Mute Owen Lynch
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:41 PM

    So they can charge €8 instead of the €7 they charge in the likes of Temple Bar and other parts of the island.

    93
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    Mute The Boogeyman
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:17 PM

    Gogartys in Temple Bar have class deal of €10 for a pint and a bag of crisps what’re you on about?

    107
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    Mute Vincent Wallace
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:43 PM

    If people are honestly stupid enough to give these places business. 10 euro for two of the cheapest things to make on the planet. If you pay a 5 er for a pint roughly 1.60 goes on taxes. That leaves 3.40 for every thing else per pint!

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    Mute The Boogeyman
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    Oct 5th 2016, 5:28 PM

    You see places then the absolute opposite like Diceys with all pints €2 and you wonder how they could possibly make money at all

    20
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    Mute Gavan Quinlan
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:03 PM

    The whole excise argument doesn’t stand up when it comes to soft drinks and alcohol free beers etc. the cost of which are extortionate. People are still being royally screwed for them.

    73
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    Mute Joe
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:45 PM

    The government should overhaul the licensing system, licenses should be issued to open premises as a pub where there is a need. The LVA cartel needs to be smashed.

    55
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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:20 PM

    If publicans reduced their prices, the amount of VAT received by the Government would go down proportionally.

    Between duty and VAT, the total tax on a piny is in the region of €1.20 to €1.50.

    Take that off what we get charged and the amount is still above what you pay in other countries (including relatively high wage ones like Germany and Austria). So the publicans and breweries have their part to play too.

    45
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    Mute Upowthat Burke
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:51 PM

    We need a complete overhaul of the alcohal industry. We cannot condemn our youth to a future of alcohal abuse like generations before us. Drink ain’t cool

    28
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    Mute grumpyoldtroll
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:06 PM

    It’s alcohol, are you drunk?

    34
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    Mute Stiofain Murray
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:34 PM

    @Upowthat Burke: Don’t like alcohal don’t drink it.

    Don’t like alcohol, don’t drink it.

    Don’t like abortion, don’t get one.

    Don’t like gay marriage – don’t get one.

    But seriously – keep your nose out of other people’s business. Please.

    47
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    Mute Brendan Keegan
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    Oct 5th 2016, 11:11 PM

    @Upowthat Burke: idiot. You think the youth will be happy with lemonade.

    1
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    Mute Ian McNally
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:05 PM

    Im sure they will still want minimum pricing brought in though

    27
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    Mute Chris lynch
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:21 PM

    I guess they’d have no issues with increasing taxes when the Sterling improves again

    23
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    Mute Tony Mcgrath
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    Oct 5th 2016, 12:44 PM

    Drink drink drink

    21
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    Mute Shane Cormican
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:20 PM

    Feck girls feck

    11
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    Mute Eyepopper
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:10 PM

    Bottle of turps and a bag of sugar still does me fine.

    I’ll do anything to avoid tax!

    19
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    Mute Eyepopper
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    Oct 5th 2016, 3:23 PM

    It’s going to be rough going if they introduce a sugar tax, admittedly.

    9
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    Mute Stiofain Murray
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    Oct 5th 2016, 1:32 PM

    But the government is planning a minimum price per unit in off licenses and supermarkets to drive up prices there.

    If they do that (and clearly an organisation as uncorrupt as the LVA wouldn’t be pressuring the government to do this to increase their monopoly) then pub landlords will benefit to offset the effect of the weak sterling?

    Oh no – there are no LVA shenanigans to see here.

    14
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    Mute Brendan Mason
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    Oct 5th 2016, 4:11 PM

    Tax should not be cut from drink because it will never be passed on to the public. If the pubs particularly in Dublin can invest in vast sums of money in Gestapo style bouncers to limit customers they can’t be badly off. There’s better use for that tax. Not in publican,’s pockets.

    14
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    Mute JJ
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    Oct 5th 2016, 2:30 PM

    How about they reduce their prices !!

    13
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    Mute JibberIrish
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    Oct 5th 2016, 2:52 PM

    On a side note, the pound is based on gold bullion, and the dollar based on “we have really big guns” or maybe oil. how the hell is the dollar worth anything? They add to it in the trillions of paper and the country of origin is 23 trillion in debt! I’m no economist but it sounds like the Zimbabwe currency.

    11
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    Mute ed w
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    Oct 5th 2016, 2:22 PM

    Most if not all of diageo products are undrinkable muck how people keep drinking guinness I’ll never know.

    7
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