Monday, 30th October 2000
HOTELIERS CALL FOR SWIFT GOVERNMENT ACTION ON NEW IMMIGRATION POLICY
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has called on Government to act quickly on the development of a national immigration policy and to provide new incentives to encourage more Irish people join the workforce. In a submission to the Minister for Finance the IHF says that new simple, speedy and transparent procedures for granting work visas are urgently needed to address the increasingly serious problem of labour shortages.
Mary Fitzgerald, President, IHF claims that "the present bottlenecks in the system benefit neither the interests of Irish employers, nor those of the immigrant. Both however, will benefit if we simplify the system to enable the matching of the wishes and abilities of those wishing to live in Ireland, with the jobs becoming available."
In its submission, the IHF emphasises the vital role played by tourism in the growth of the Irish economy. It points out, that visitor numbers and revenue rose by 30% in the last three years - from 4.7m visitors yielding £1.9bn in 1996 to over 6m visitors yielding £2.5bn in 1999. The industry, which now represents 5% of total exports and 6.4% of GNP, provides employment for over 137,000 people.
But it warns that it will not be able to sustain this momentum unless certain key issues are addressed quickly. The main problems are a shortage of labour, which it says has profound implications for the maintenance of service quality throughout the industry, and a worrying deterioration in price competitiveness.
In addition to better work visa procedures, the Federation also wants the Government to provide a range of new tax-based incentives to enable people currently working in the home to either enter for the first time, or to re-enter the workforce. It suggests a range of measures including a special £2,000 per annum Homemakers Tax Allowance for three years, to encourage those wishing to return to the workforce. The Federation also calls for a personal tax allowance of up to £4,000 per annum for childcare payments, and for employers to be allowed to pay (without their employees being subjected to Benefit In Kind tax) up to £4,000 per annum per child to registered childcare providers.
The IHF is also concerned about a decline in cost competitiveness in an increasingly competitive international marketplace. The Federation suggests that local authority rates on Government Buildings should be assessed in the same manner as other business premises. Implementing this suggestion could reduce the Local Authority rates bill in Dublin by up to 30% as well as providing additional revenue to Dublin Corporation.
It also proposes that VAT on hotel, accommodation and restaurant sales, should be cut to under 10% to bring Ireland into line with other EU Member States. Currently Ireland has the 4th highest VAT rate in Europe on hotel accommodation. VAT registered businesses should be allowed to claim VAT as an input on legitimate hotel/restaurant expenditure, the Federation suggests.
The Federation believes that the thresholds for Capital Acquisitions Tax and Capital Gains Tax Retirement Relief should be raised to £1m and £1.5m respectively. This would restore the full indexation of the original thresholds set in 1974.
Maintaining the level of activity in marketing Ireland overseas, has got to remain a national priority. The Government has a leading role in this function. While acknowledging the provision of £150m over the next seven years in the National Development Plan, the Federation states that the correct phasing of this expenditure is essential. Therefore the annual spend on destination marketing by Government should never be less than £20m per annum and it calls on Government to make a clear statement to this effect.
Due to the concern regarding the recent performance of Ireland's largest tourist market - Britain, it suggests the immediate provision of an additional £2.5m for each of the next three years, so that effective action can be taken to return the performance of this market to the growth previously achieved.
Ms Fitzgerald concludes that the establishment of a public/private partnership approach to tourism product development and the provision of sufficient funds to local authorities to enforce current litter legislation are also fundamental to preserving Ireland's tourism success story.