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TWO DUBLIN LOCAL authorities have come together to push for national legislation to enable councils to levy taxes on overnight stays by tourists.
Fingal County Council has written to all councils nationwide calling for the introduction of enabling legislation for locally collected “transient visitor tax” on overnights in hotels, short-term rentals such as Airbnbs, and other accommodation.
Opponents of such a measure have argued it would hamper Dublin’s competitiveness by increasing the cost of visiting what is already an expensive city.
However, Dublin City Council is on board with the idea of tourism tax, and has requested cooperation on the matter from Dublin’s other two councils, South Dublin and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
It’s understood Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is set to formally indicate soon that it will co-operate on the initiative, following a discussion by its finance committee.
James Humphreys, a Labour Party councillor for Swords in Fingal, said many visitors to hotels in his area – in the hinterland of Dublin airport – were transient commuters. He hopes a tourism levy could be ringfenced for initiatives to encourage tourists to venture further in Fingal and stay for longer.
However, councils cannot implement such a tax without enabling legislation from national government. Fingal wrote to the Minister for Finance late last year to request this.
Séamas McGrattan, a Sinn Féin councillor and chair of Dublin City Council’s finance committee, said Dublin-wide cooperation would ensure there was no distortion of the tourism market, and increase political pressure on national government to take action.
Dublin City Council’s finance committee proposed a 1% hotel tax in 2023. The council’s current ruling coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party is in favour of such a measure. It says a tourist tax will help fund city services and enable the council to ease pressure on small businesses commercial rates.
Tourist taxes are levied in many popular destinations worldwide. Visitors to Venice pay €1-5 per night, depending on the time of year, with the funds used to finance maintenance of the city’s heritage sites, as well as public services and events.
In Vienna, visitors must pay 3.2% tourist tax on their accommodation bill, while Lisbon doubled its tourist tax from €2 to €4 per guest per night last September.
The Irish Hotels Federation has criticised the proposal for Dublin, arguing that its members in the capital already contribute to the city’s budget through commercial rates and levies to fund local authority services. Hotels argue a tourist tax will hamper Ireland’s competitiveness in the international tourism market.
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Any tourists coming to Ireland won’t know if they are in Africa or the Middle East
@Mr. Biggins: I’d say you’ve never been to either
@Mick Duvanny: I’ve been to Dublin, same thing
@Mr. Biggins: McGregor is in the house
@Mr. Biggins: Spoken like a true xenophobe
@Mr. Biggins: yet another profile Buster. Did you reply to yourself yet? Did you like your own comment 200 times?
@Mr. Biggins: I eat Vindaloo so often I Dorset steet, the owner of the Indian restaurant / take away friended me on Facebook. They’re really nice people. The restaurant has posters of a Mosque, a Christian church, and after using Google Lens, which identifies photos, a Baháʼí temple, which I think tells you a bit about the owner, Arif. A hard working guy who arrived from Pakistan, sets up a business, employing people, making a living, rasing a family, supporting friends and community, that’s just living a life.
@Chutes Idiot: Yes. Biggins who has visited Dublin a couple of times seems to know what he is talking about
@David Jordan: Daallo is another great spot around the corner from Dorset St on Frederick St N. Somalian, East African, etc. Large portions, platters, lot of lamb and chicken, decent prices. Lovely folk run it. They add to the city.
@Lance Taylor: Whilst McGregor may be a rather unsavoury character, everything he said was true!
@Lance Taylor: that horrible individual does not speak for me or a lot of average irish people either
@Sean: do you mean michael Martin?
@Chutes Idiot: or the stabbing in waterford on St Patrick’s day or the incident in Cork yesterday, and before any spouts lots of Irish commit crimes , I know, but we have seen a huge increase in knife crime akin to the surge in the UK in the late 90s early 00s, mostly boys/men mostly non white
@James Rowan: hello Brenny
@Brian Hunt: “a rather unsavoury character” lol! Talk about playing down his crimes and the impact of his toxic behaviour
@Lance Taylor: he has loads of troll accounts, I may have to post a review on the Trustpilot, let everyone know what the comments section is like
@Lance Taylor: seems you’ve taken my name again BUSTER LAWLESS, that !diot mcgregor doesn’t speak for me,
@Chutes Idiot: saw it lol
@Lance Taylor: well
Said
@Lance Taylor: sadly, the weed had many roots when it was culled—- Claire powers, kev/Kevin/kevvy kerrr, hungry house game etc etc
@Mr. Biggins: yes a modern multi cultural society, like other modern city’s.
@Brian Hunt: Everyone is welcome to this country as long as they obey our laws, respect our culture, contribute to society, actively look for employment and try not to murder any more of our citizens.
@Mr. Biggins: lol! Yea Americans have never seen black and brown people before!! Oh yea that’s just you :’D
So not only will Dublin be the unsafe city in Europe, but they want it to be the most expensive city to visit in Europe
@Paul Maguire: “For what died the Sons of Roísin? Was it greed?”
@Paul Maguire: not sure if you’ve been to Dublin recently. It’s already one of the most expensive cities to visit on earth.
@Paul Maguire: tourists are willing to pay a tax in Vienna as it’s one of the nicest cities in the EU, if not the world. Don’t be using that as a comparison ffs
@Paul Maguire: it already is.
There are less a less reasons every year for tourists to visit Ireland, rip off pricing, regional hotels closing, the fact that modern Ireland is nothing like the Ireland of their expectations.
Dublin especially has little or nothing to entice tourists other than a few pretty disappointing “iconic” commercial sites.
A tourist tax seems like a great way to turn off the remaining gluttons for punishment that still decide to visit Ireland despite all of the above.
It’s not the extra cost of a tourist tax, it’s the negative press that will result around the introduction of such a tax, which will become a talking point for anyone even considering visiting Ireland and their perception of how Ireland views tourists..
@Dvsespaña: people need media training imo. Right now emotional misgivings are too vulnerable, it’s only use is selling advertising, which it’s going great and won’t ever stop.
This is Ireland, so we will set up a new Quango to collect the tax. The end result will cost as much, if not more to collect the tax than it will make.
I can’t see the tourist-dependent business community liking this. It’s expensive enough here for tourists as it is. Taxing their visit may just make somewhere else more appealing.
@Shea Fitzgerald: Oddly same community has no problem jacking up prices in the first place. World’s smallest violin plays constantly.
@Luas Vuitton – Penneys Drag Queen: I’d say you’re fond of playing the black oboe
Take back some of our hotels so that have somewhere to stay perhaps?
Why not tax the hoteliers and their politician buddies who are fleecing this country under the pretence of providing humanitarian assistance.
They should be done for treason.
@Fergus O’Donnell: that’d be the same thing. The hotels would pass the tax onto the customers
@Des Daly: yeah. You’re right.
If this is implemented then there’s no way I’m ever going on holidays to Finglas again.
@George Bowling: lol brilliant
Won’t effect the scamigrants which this council and others migration loving ngo favour over the native white Irish people in regards to accommodation. This tax maybe effect people on a limited travel budget will be put off and go elsewhere.
If councils provided a safe, appealing and interesting public realm, this might be reasonable. But they don’t. They provide plastic bollard, sign posts and the odd litter collection
@G: North inner city has had a load of improvements in the last couple of years. Only yesterday I noticed big new planter boxes on Emmett Street even though it’s an out-of-the-way residential street that nobody would even notice.
@Shane O Neill: a little done..a LOT to do..
I fully support such a tax. Nobody refused to go to Paris because of it. If they do, well….
@Luas Vuitton – Penneys Drag Queen:
You also fully supported MM on his St. Patrick’s day hole licking exercise where he laughed along with Trump about our housing crisis, pretended that administration were not in violation of international law by supplying arms to a county that is commiting war crimes daily and had nothing to say at the meeting about McGregor being Trump’s favorite Irish person. To top it off you told every Irish person, that didn’t agree with you about how well MM did, to leave the country. All your other braindead takes are seen by me in that context
@Luas Vuitton – Penneys Drag Queen: In fairness, big big difference between Dublin & Paris. Paris along with London and New York are considered the great cities of the world, Dublin in fairness is a second rate, bang average city. I struggle to see why anyone would come here, dreadful public transport, very average museums, bar possibly Trinity, no real iconic buildings. Oh and it’s also extremely expensive.
@Luas Vuitton – Penneys Drag Queen: Paris or Dublin? Lol. One is a global city, the other a skid mark in the history of poverty
They must be running out of ideas to tax the hilt out of us,that they’re going after tourist money,sure they get heavily taxed when they visit Temple Bar..
@Will Q: Way more to Dublin than temple bar.
Ban Airbnb
@Tony: absolutely it at least have it so it can only be done from a primary residence. We have to rethink our attitude towards property ownership and the social responsibilities that comes with it.
@Fergus O’Donnell: tell that scenario to the multiple landlords and vulture funds in the current government before
€1-€5 a night for the privilege of looking at litter strewn streets, street fighting and, maybe, being robbed or mugged. Why they’re giving it away!
@PhiBo: or go down to culchie Ireland and see Danny Healy Rae types muttering into their pints.
@PhiBo: The local authorities would only waste the tax they get. Dublin is a kip, saying otherwise and getting tourists to pay to visit is laughable.
Is that a joke or what, they should be paying tourists danger money to visit Dublin,
@Ned: Absolutely… half of them probably get mugged before they make it to their grotty hotel.
@Ned: I’ve seen more fights and trouble outside chippers in culchie towns than I’ve ever seen in Dublin.
@Donna Fallon: By homeless people like you.
@John Paul: you haven’t spent much time in Dublin then or hear and read the news about tourists mugged and some have life changing injuries inflicted by Dublin gangs?? The country chipper couldn’t hold candle to what happens in Dublin.
Here comes “Lance Taylor” and “Rian O’Sullivan” – the same sad person fuming into an app.
@Luas Vuitton – Penneys Drag Queen: he’s quite pathetic.
Tourism is already struggling, with accommodation being taken up by the government to house new arrivals. Prices are already way too expensive for accommodation, food, drink, and activities. What genius thinks now is the time to make it more expensive for people to visit. We need to bring legislation to stop hotels taking the piss not a tax on visitors.
If they keep the tourist tax to Dublin maybe other areas of Ireland could benefit.
@Sea Spirit: Maybe we should stop sending property tax money collected in Dublin to other councils!….then you probably will have to tax them when the Dublin money runs dry and you have to pay your own way for once.
@John Paul: Such an ignorant statement.. Tell you what, Dublin can keep their property taxes but then the culchies keep their food, water and electricity. See how many days it takes before Dublin collapses into chaos.
Ireland is run as a country with pooled resources used where they’re needed. Dublin has a high density, meaning more taxes but also meaning higher demands for water, food, power and other services and utilities like waste disposal, water treatment and emergency services. Demands that make it impossible for Dublin to be self sufficient.
I’m delighted to see the Councils doing this, and Minister I hope you will bring in the necessary Legislation.
There are parts of Spain and Portugal no longer want us to visit, they say they cannot get a house/Apartment because visitors take them, I wish the Councils well in what they are doing, it will bring Ireland into line with Countries that charge it.
I was going to comment that I can’t believe what I’m reading but unfortunately I can. Ireland is a beautiful Country and I’m proud to be Irish. However, I ended up homeless in Dublin after the bank forced me to sell my place… I have never been so ashamed to give directions to tourists in North Inner City Dublin. I genuinely told them to get out of the area. They were paying €300 upwards a night to stay in an actual ghetto. So embarrassed to be a Dub TBH.
@Chutes Idiot: Ha ha love it… I wonder why Man?? No seriously so if you Google Dublin hotels you will be immediately directed to the ones around O’Connell Street our ‘main thoroughfare’… eek:( I genuinely feel upset that this is the impression that many are getting of our once beautiful Country x
@Donna Fallon: Trouble can walk anywhere it’s just that Garda actually doing something.
@Donna Fallon: The city is unfortunately full of people like you..and you are surprised it’s run down.
This is truly terrible idea and should be slapped down. In international comparisons, Dublin is falling down the list as an attractive city to visit. Adding a tax is a further disincentive to Tourists, on top of pour high costs for food, accommodation, and alcohol.
Ya just couldn’t make it up, killing the goose
This is one of the stupidest piece of legislation that has ever been proposed. Tourists are not some infinite well of easy money that governments can simply tap into without consequences. When you introduce a tax on visitors, you make Ireland less attractive as a destination. People will go elsewhere. They’ll take their dollars, euros and yen and spend them in places where they feel welcome and valued. Taxing tourists is like slapping a “do not enter” sign on your economy and you don’t need to be a genius to know that fewer people will choose to visit a country that’s become more expensive. introducing a tax on tourists in Ireland is an act of economic ignorance and self-sabotage. It’s short-sighted, it harms local businesses and hurts the very people the government claims to be helping.
Taxes hurt people who work for a living, and reward the lazy and incompetent dolemongers and public service drones
Lourdes charges 2.30 eurp per night over 18yrs. Many French cities do. We probably need to.
@Chutes Idiot: lol
It’s a stupid idea. Tourists bring money into the country. Local businesses benefit from this. Tourists are already being ripped off with hotel prices, etc. In my opinion this will deter people from coming.
(I don’t understand why anybody would want to visit Dublin. There are far better places to visit.)
@A D: Agreed… however how many hotel spaces are currently available due to our immigration policy??
Soon only the rich will be able to travel multiple times a year.
At the same time, the councils are threatening industrial action at the prospect of outsourcing the collection of debt recovery of rates arrears. Currently over 70% of council houses are in arrears and the Council has an exerable record of debt collection. It would be much better if they focused on collecting monies already owed to them, before they start bilking tourists.
Like Tourist traps aren’t expensive enough already…
Great news. Send them down to West Cork. We won’t tax them at all.
@Louis Jacob: Dublin property tax payers prop up your councils.maybe we should stop….then you might.
What’s tax?
We need all the tax we can get for the coffers. When the US firms go home it’ll be like Briton 400AD when the Romans packed up. Man Alive…Dark Ages.
In prauge fro 3 nites last September and tourist tax was came to 7.50euro for the 3 nites. The issue with tourist tax herez is we pay through the nose for hotels as standard. So if a tourist tax wa brought in it should be ring fenced for local authorities and cap at max 2 euro per nite and max 8euro of staying 4 or more nites
Comments closed on lots this week. Seems no rhyme or reason being that last week or next week they could be open depending on the wind direction. Maybe purchase faster servers? Still… Comment control is a good lesson as to what to expect from the Euro digital currency , should it ever come about.
While the councils all Over this country are failing daily to provide the necessary infrastructure, I do like this. Massive tax with zero return is now a massive part of Irish culture, others should feel how dumb we are.
This is a bad idea imo. Dublin has many problems that need to be fixed before something like this should even be considered. If it wasn’t for the ongoing love affair Americans have with Dublin/Ireland, tourism would be in serious trouble. We are in an “eggs in one basket” situation at the moment. And, as usual, the moneyvraiedrd will be wasted!
@Fred: money raised
Can’t wait for the tourist tax to be extended to everyone then, due to rising costs etc.
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