Tánaiste: Deferred tax payments may be offered to struggling businesses

TÁNAISTE Micheál Martin has said that the Government may allow cafés and restaurants struggling to stay afloat to defer tax liability payments.

His comments come amid a recent raft of closures in Cork and across the country.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) called for urgent intervention to combat what it has described as a “crisis” in the industry.

The representative body has put forward a five-point plan — including the reinstatement of the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector and a warehousing of debt repayments — “to help the Government avoid an otherwise inevitable tsunami of restaurant and café closures in 2024”.

Speaking to reporters in Cork yesterday, the Tánaiste said the latter point was something he would raise with the finance minister.

“I think on the warehousing of tax, that’s certainly something I think we can look at and I’ll talk to the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, in respect of that to see if that can be structured — it had already been restructured to some degree in terms of phasing,” he said.

“There’s a €250m allocation made in the Cost of Living package that accompanied the Budget for businesses — that is there for businesses that they can take up.”

VAT RATE

Speaking in relation to the Vat rate, Mr Martin pointed out that 13.5% had been the rate pre-covid and its reduction by 4.5% was introduced as a temporary measure.

“When we did bring it down… a lot of the hotels didn’t bring down prices — the prices went up as we witnessed across many towns and cities in the country, if the truth be told, but we did bring in the €250m as a way of helping businesses generally in the cost-of-living package to support them in terms of the costs that they’re incurring,” he said.

Mr Martin refuted any suggestion that the Government is not listening to the concerns of those within the sector.

“There has been unprecedented supports over the last three years for the hospitality sector,” he said.

“And we will do what we can to help, but I wouldn’t accept any suggestion that we’re not listening. I don’t think that’s valid.”

In Cork, White Rabbit Bar and BBQ has been the latest food business to announce it will close one of its outlets.

The business said it will close its restaurant on MacCurtain St on February 4.

White Rabbit said its outlet in Marina Market and White Rabbit Deli on Princes St will continue to operate as usual. It added that the venue on MacCurtain St “will return in the near future with a different offering”.

The announcement came on the heels of the closures of Nash 19 on Princes St, Tung Sing on Patrick Street, and Pigalle on Barrack St — all announced since the start of the year.