Cork Views: VAT cut may be bad news for diet of nation

The hospitality industry will benefit from a VAT cut next year after Budget 2026, with a reduction from 13.5% to 9% due for eligible businesses in July, 2026.

Hotels will be excluded from the measure but inexplicably, large franchise operators such as McDonalds will be covered.

As Irish restaurants struggle amid soaring costs, this VAT cut will be welcome. But applying it equally across the board for all restaurants means sales of unhealthy cheap takeaway food will continue to soar while local restaurants struggle to compete.

This will add to the onslaught of food-induced obesity and chronic disease as the government refuses to take the necessary legislative measures that would shift consumption from unhealthy to healthy food while providing a market for local producers and retail outlets as well as restaurants.

As Irish restaurants continue to struggle amid soaring costs, a growing number of U.S fast food chains are getting their tentacles into the Irish market. Popeyes, Wing Stop and Wendy’s have all opened outlets in Ireland.

Mexican-inspired Taco Bell opened its first outlet two weeks ago in Co Meath, and crowd control barriers and long waiting times have been in place. There are plans for several more outlets in Ireland, including at Ballincollig.

Does anyone stop to join the dots and consider what the explosion of cheap take-away food outlets is doing to the nation’s health, with low income groups suffering the most?

There is robust evidence that the density of fast food outlets is much higher in deprived areas – one piece of research cited 16 takeaways in a prestigious part of Dublin 4, with plenty of alternative options.

In comparison, Cherry Orchard, to the south-west of Dublin city centre, had 53 take-aways.

Takeaways are booming as local restaurants struggle to stay open. Escalating overheads, food prices and customers feeling the pinch mean dining outside the home is replaced with takeaway food options.

At the same time, the research is overloaded with evidence of the impact of high consumption of unhealthy food predisposing to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and dementia. Hospitals are overwhelmed as the population ages, with rising levels of obesity and poor health.

Latest evidence shows a sharp rise in rates of early onset colon cancer in under 50s. This is more than just more diagnoses and more screening. The incidence across Europe rose 7.9% per year between 2004 and 2016 in the age group 20-29, 4.9% in the 30-39 age group; and 1.6% in the 40-49 age group.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer suggests that, based on evidence from modelling studies, early onset colorectal cancer could double every 15 years in Australia, Canada, the UK and the U.S.

A review in Nature Reviews Endocrinology outlines rising levels of early onset colorectal cancer in high income countries, that aligns with rising obesity and type 2 diabetes. It concluded that ultra processed foods are promoting hormonal and inflammatory changes in the gut that predispose to bowel cancer.

But despite the mounting evidence, we don’t seem to be joining the dots linking a diet of cheap food to disease - with reactive instead of preventive responses.

In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and buckling health services, there is a renewed interest in structured programmes of nutrition to bolster prevention and delay the onset of chronic disease.

It takes a leap of faith to imagine a future where the dominance of junk food and takeaways is diluted to include a mixture of fast food and public restaurants on city streets. Impossible? It’s been done before.

During World War II, the UK government opened more than 2,000 British restaurants, serving 600,000 affordable meals a day, designed to meet a third of the people’s energy needs.

As well as food provision, public diners could be co-designed to fulfil the social functions of food including dignity, cultural meaning and enjoyment. And they could reduce the burden of domestic food work including the planning, shopping, cooking and washing up that remains strongly gendered.

Public diners would require public investment. But because they serve a limited wholefood menu and a lot of food a day, costs could be kept to a minimum while maintaining quality.

Imagine public infrastructure in Ireland that offered an alternative to fast food takeaways, offering nutritious food at affordable prices to people in their own communities.

The concept is already up and running in several countries. Turkey has 17 public restaurants in Istanbul offering hot meals – soup, legumes, rice vegetables and meat for a small sum of money. Mexico city has 500 community backed kitchens that serve as neighbourhood cafés serving hot, healthy meals.

Now Nourish Scotland is hoping to pilot a similar programme in Dundee in 2026. Project Officer Abigail McCall said: “For other aspects of our wellbeing - water, transport, healthcare, even WiFi - we have built the public infrastructure to ensure everyone has quality. We are missing that in relation to food.”

And communities need this so badly. Somewhere older people can meet up for a meal a couple of times a week. Where families can eat out together in their communities, without breaking the bank. Where teens can meet and sit around a table to socialise over food.

It’s a brilliant model that would transform health and wellbeing.

The Government needs to consider whether we want more Taco Bell or more home produced food that meets health needs.

This is the question we should be asking when we introduce VAT changes and other subsidies to local restaurants – public as well as private.

Unfortunately, the current response is a one size fits all that will push the sale of fast foods even higher while leaving local restaurants grappling with the crumbs from fast food franchise tables.