There has been a cautious welcome from businesses in the hospitality sector in Westport, Co Mayo, to today's budget announcements.
Among the supports unveiled by Finance Minister Pascal Donohue are a VAT reduction for bars, restaurants and cafés, along with financial supports for businesses impacted by Covid-19 restrictions.
VAT will fall from 13.5% to 9% from 1 November. The decrease will remain in place until December 2021.
Businesses that have had to close or limit access, due to Covid-19 restrictions, will be eligible to apply for payments, based on their 2019 average weekly turnover.
That scheme will commence immediately and will run until the end of March.
With Westport hugely dependant on year round tourism, today’s announcements are seen as being central to the 2021 outlook for the area’s economy.
Local hotels and restaurants have seen a dramatic fall in the number of international tourists and are now almost wholly dependent on the domestic market.
Sinead Lambert, who runs the Sol Rio Restaurant with her husband, said the measures today provided some light at the end of the tunnel. But she warned that the rest of the year looked very bleak and she was still uncertain as to how to get up and running after a second enforced closure in 2020.
At the nearby Porterhouse pub, Joe O’Malley described the budget as "middling".
He said that the VAT reduction and wage supports would help ease the pressure but he cautioned that there were still huge pressures on vintners and he was critical of a lack of action when it came to tackling insurance costs.
Darren Madden, of the Clew Bay Hotel, said the Budget demonstrated a recognition by Government of the importance of the hospitality sector for the country’s economic wellbeing. He said he hoped the measures outlined today would help get the industry back on its feet after a difficult 2020.
And even before today’s budget, steps have been taken locally to assist with that task.
In the coming weeks, the Westport headquartered Carraig Donn retail chain will distribute 50,000 vouchers, giving €50 off the price of a hotel stay in the town. Nine family run hotels have signed up to take part in the initiative, in the hope that it will return some normality and finance to the local economy.
