Member's statement: Hospitality Sector: VAT
Member's statement by Miss Áine Murphy on .
- MLA
- Miss Áine Murphy
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 18 May 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Hospitality Sector: VAT
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5547952
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The hospitality sector is vital to our economy, with tourism being particularly important across our rural areas. Great progress has been made in my constituency with the extension of the Ireland's Hidden Heartlands brand into Fermanagh, which was announced by my Sinn Féin colleague Minister Caoimhe Archibald, but we need to see the British Government step up and reduce the VAT rate for hospitality across the North. We want to see VAT rates harmonised across our island. The gap is set to widen on 1 July, when the VAT rate in the South will be reduced to 9%. It currently sits at 13·5%, which is significantly lower than that of the North, which sits at 20%. My Sinn Féin colleague Minister John O'Dowd has been pressing the British Government consistently on the issue. They need to start listening and understand the all-island nature of our hospitality and tourism sectors. The current VAT rate here means that hospitality businesses in the North face higher taxes and are therefore at an unfair disadvantage compared with neighbouring businesses in the Twenty-six, where the lower VAT rate will increase footfall across restaurants, pubs and cafes. I call on the British Government to reduce the VAT rate for hospitality businesses here. That would be a vital help to the hotels, restaurants, cafes and, of course, pubs that have struggled in recent years with rising bills, supporting them to thrive and attract more customers through their doors. A harmonised VAT rate would represent a positive step forward and ensure a level playing field for all hospitality businesses across Ireland.
263 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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