Óna Máire Walsh

When you say doubling, what's it going from to?

I don't have the figures to hand, but it's there.

The Dublin City Council has just voted just earlier this week to double the development levy.

So that is a disincentive to build at the very time that we need incentives to build.

There's also talk of a bed tax as well.

Exactly, yeah.

Which I think is counterproductive.

I mean, Ireland is already the second most expensive country across the EU.

You bring in a bed tax and it's another additional cost.

It damages our competitiveness.

Remember, tourists to Dublin, for example, pay, I think it's close to 900 million euro a year in taxes.

So, you know, further increasing tax on a sector that's already paying its way, I just think is daft.

Yeah, I just don't think it makes sense to tax a sector that is already squeezed in margins.

I think, you know, nobody's talking about adding a tax to retailers or adding a tax to somebody who wants a pint or adding a tax to, you know, a restaurant bill.

Why tax the hotel sector?

I think, as they say, tourists, I think, already pay...

About 29 cents in every euro is paid in taxes by tourists to the country.

I think that's plenty.

That's down to every individual business.

Prices either will go down or businesses will hold on to it to give a bit of a buffer to the margins.