Member's statement: Reval2026: Hospitality Sector

Member's statement by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 26 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

26 January 2026

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Reval2026: Hospitality Sector

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5340164

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will talk about a subject that is close not just to my heart but to the hearts of many communities and people who value the role that our pub and hospitality sector plays in Northern Ireland. I grew up working in small rural pubs. It is part of the DNA of my family and that of many families across the island. The revaluation that was announced last week by the Department of Finance risks forcing pubs and other hospitality locations over the edge. In an extraordinary development, many of our hospitality venues will face tens of thousands of pounds — in some cases, hundreds of thousands of pounds — in increased rates liability. That will force them out of business: it will force pubs to close; it will prevent small rural villages and towns from having access to those vital community meeting points; and it will damage our hospitality offer. The Irish pub is fundamental and critical to the hospitality offer not just in the North but on the island of Ireland. The revaluation exercise happens every number of years. It is not a revenue-raising exercise, so, before anybody says, "Where else would we raise the revenue?", let us be clear that it is a revenue-neutral exercise. That is clear from the Minister and from the Department's website. However, that revenue-neutral exercise has clearly been designed to create a huge additional burden on our pubs and hospitality sector at a time when it faces rising costs related to labour, goods and other things such as Sky TV. That last aspect does not necessarily jump to the front of one's mind, but my understanding is that the Sky Sports bills — Sky Sports subscriptions are often critical to getting people into pubs, including on wintry nights such as we have been having recently, when people go in to watch the Champions League — that pubs pay to get that critical part of their offer, are based on their rateable values, so those bills will go up by thousands of pounds. That is a completely unacceptable situation. The SDLP Opposition will not stand by and allow our pubs to be punished like that, with all the consequences for their workers — they could lose their jobs — communities and our tourism offer. It is not good enough to blame the Brits, as some have already done, and to say, "Austerity did this". The revaluation is not raising any money. If it were raising money for public services, that would be another matter. The Sinn Féin MP for North Belfast responded to a pub on the Antrim Road that is facing crippling additional costs by saying, "It is a consequence of austerity". The revaluation is not raising any money to deal with austerity; it is just rebalancing our rates system while punishing pubs. We cannot stand by and let that happen. We cannot allow small rural pubs and critical hospitality venues to go to the wall because of the revaluation. We will stand up and fight against it in order to protect those critical community assets and tourism resources. There will be more to say about that in the Chamber in the weeks ahead.

532 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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