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PUBLIC EXPENDITURE MINISTER Paschal Donohoe has said he takes it very seriously that Ireland’s hospitality sector should “do the right thing” by not price-gouging on hotel prices during Taylor Swift’s tour dates.
Concerns have been raised today about rocketing hotel prices of up to €1,000 for dates the concerts are due to be held in Dublin next year.
Swift will play two shows at the Aviva Stadium on Friday 28 June and Saturday 29 June 29 2024.
Speaking to reporters at the launch of the public services performance report, Donohoe, who is an avid music fan, said:
“I saw Taylor Swift perform the last time she was here in Ireland and I have a pretty good idea of the level of joy and happiness her return in Ireland is going to cause for lots people who are looking forward to seeing her come back.
“At a time in which we may have missed out on Beyonce on her current tour, it’s great to see we’re going to get Taylor Swift.”
The minister said he was also aware of the “effect Beyonce had on inflation levels in other economies” during her tour in Europe this year.
“Actually, I take pretty seriously the need for the hospitality sector to do the right thing by lots of excited fans that are coming to see Taylor Swift play in Ireland.
“I’ve not held back in the past from behaviour that I’ve seen in the hospitality sector at a time in which we’re trying to get the sector back on its own two feet again.
“I think the biggest losers, if we see those few nights as an opportunity to make more money, the biggest losers in the long run from all of that will be our hotels,” he said.
Last year, similar concerns were raised about hotel prices when Garth Brooks played Croke Park.
Donohoe says he went to see Taylor Swift the last time she was here and he knows the joy it brings to fans that she’s returning.
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) June 21, 2023
But price gouging by hotels won’t do anything for the hospitality business, he says. pic.twitter.com/fHzdXnpuoT
Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan also spoke about his concerns on the issue, stating that any increase in prices for hotels for the concerts was “not right”.
Speaking on Newstalk, he said the overpricing was a big issue and caused “reputation damage” to the country and capital.
“It is a very hard thing to regulate. You can’t restrict if someone wants to sell something at the price, it is not easy to come in and say: ‘No, you can’t’.
“I think for the industry it is a real problem because very quickly you get the reputation of being extortionate and then you lose your business.
“So, I think for the tourism industry itself we have to think about how we try and avoid that,” he said.
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My dog, a buddy and myself climbed the gealtee mor a few years ago. We got up to the top when the weather changed suddenly, thick fog and lashing rain, couldn’t see anything but my buddy had a compass so wasn’t too worried, after a while following him around it felt like we were going uphill, after a quick inspection of the compass it was clearly fûćked.. Phone battery was also dead so no google maps, was starting to get dark so we just followed a river down the mountain, eventually got to a road but didn’t have a clue where we were. We were on this road with houses few and far between in the lashing rain in darkness so we started knocking on doors to find out where we were and this elderly couple opened the doors. After explaining our story they brought us in, made us tea and biscuits, laughed at the state of the compass and told us our car was 8 miles away.. After heating up in front of the fire he drove us to our car and wouldn’t take any money. John Cagney is his name and I can’t remember Mrs Cagneys name but your both legends!
The mountain rescue team must have being pretty cheesed off looking for them 2 clowns @ 3 am…..
It could have happened to anyone. Hope all are safe and well.
What is with all thewe unprepared idiots hiking on terrains they are not used to or have the equipment for.
Did they find the cheese?
Learn to map read and navigate. It’s not that difficult.
Surprisingly difficult to map read and know your exact location at 3am. Not as easy as it sounds.
But then again don’t get caught out in the that situation if you’re not able to deal with it.
I think the article originally said they got lost and called for help at 9pm. It’s at 3am that they were eventually located. They should have planned their excursion adequately to ensure that they would not still be up a mountain by 9pm when it grew dark, let alone factoring in fog.
A Beautiful part of the country, the weather can get very harsh up there even on a fine day in the greater area though. Its always best to be prepared when going to remote locations and avoid lending yourself to natures cruel side.
I’ve been on the galtee mts and saw 2 friends get hypothermia. 1 lost consciousness. We got them off safely. We are fairly experienced navigators. Point is people underestimate mountains in Ireland hugely. That day on the valley floor the weather was actually ok and up top was hugely different. Carry enough gear as you never know if someone will get injured.
Silly sausages!
Where I work we can see Galtee from the window the weather can change suddenly from good to bad in a matter of minutes. If you are going up you need to be prepared for all seasons. And yes I do work with cheese
They were probably looking for the breakfast !!
These stories are not helped by the sort of ‘walks’ described every week in the irish Times. Encouraging people to walk in areas which are definitely dangerous.
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