Visitor Levy on Paid Overnight Accommodation: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-24 ============================================================ Mary Fitzpatrick (FF), Industrial and Commercial Panel I thank the Minister for coming to the house for this evening's debate on a Fianna Fáil motion which seeks to give powers to local authorities to have additional revenue raising capacity. The motion is fundamentally about strengthening local democracy and empowering local government by giving it additional revenue-raising powers. At the outset, it is important that I acknowledge that this is an initiative and proposal that is coming from our local authorities. It is coming from Dublin City Council. I want to acknowledge the Fianna Fáil councillors, led by Councillor Daryl Barron but it was a cross-party group who worked on and brought forward proposals over the past number of years in regard to introducing what is being referred to as a visitor accommodation tax. I want to also acknowledge our colleague in the Lower House, Deputy Paul McAuliffe. He produced a research paper with the assistance of the Library and Research Service on this subject matter and that has really helped to inform and progress the debate. Really what is proposed is driven by those locally elected representatives. Deputy McAuliffe was a former councillor, I was a former councillor, as was Senator O'Loughlin and indeed the Minister, Deputy Browne. Many Senators in this House come from our local authorities and that gives us a unique advantage in understanding the value of local authorities but also the responsibility they have. City and county councillors are really the public representatives closest to the people who live in their local authority areas. We believe they should be trusted with greater powers and responsibility in terms of their own financial autonomy. We debated at length, when we debated the local democracy task force and other local government issues, how Ireland has a very centralised government system and we are one of the most centralised in Europe when it comes to local government funding. We all know that if we really believe in local democracy, we must believe in giving powers to local authorities and the tools to actually deliver for their communities. This motion is not about central government imposing anything on local government. It is not about prescribing or defining what local government should do. It is about potentially enabling legislation that will enable local authorities to generate revenues. Local authorities play a critical role in maintaining the public realm, the street cleaning, the public lighting and in supporting their communities. Communities that are living in areas that have very high tourist traffic get the value of that tourist traffic but also the additional wear and tear that goes with it. Local representatives do their best. They work hard with council officials day in and day out, as well as with local community groups and local businesses to ensure their local area is well maintained. At the same time, it is essential to acknowledge the concerns the local authority members have been raising and their demand and ask for powers to introduce, potentially, a visitor accommodation tax. If we are being honest about the debate we also have to acknowledge there are concerns raised by other parties, including businesses and the Irish Hotels Federation in particular. It has highlighted concerns regarding tourism competitiveness and the additional costs for visitors. The administrative burden is one the federation has called out and its members' concerns need to be heard too. They should be given really careful consideration. Tourism is an incredibly valuable part of our economy. It is an incredibly valuable activity for us and we all want to see it continue to grow, to be strong and sustainable and to continue into the future. We have a really high-value tourism offering and we need to protect that also. However, the purpose of the motion is not to introduce a national visitor levy. It is to allow local authorities, if they wish and if the elected representatives on those local authorities consider it and determine it appropriate for their area, to move forward and introduce a levy. Some local authorities may do it and some will not. That will be a matter for the local authority members and that is how it should be. The decision should rest with local authority members. I believe and I think the local authority members would agree that any revenues that are raised must be ring-fenced for the public domain. They must be ring-fenced for additional street cleaning, additional public space maintenance, additional public lighting and additional amenities for the people living in the area but also those visiting the area. That will be a matter for the local authority members to determine. I believe the Government should support this request from the local authority members. I believe the Government should respond positively to it and should progress legislation that will give powers to the local authority members. Were that to happen, then I believe there really would need to be a consultation. Many other countries have done this. It operates well in other countries but we need to be conscious we are doing something new. As I said earlier, we have a very valuable tourism offering we do not want to in any way jeopardise. We have come at this from a long debate over many years. With the Minister most recently the local democracy task force has examined the revenue raising powers of local authorities. It has been examined by other bodies. The local authority members themselves have been working on it. It is now time for the Government to trust the local authority members that their demand is real and that it is needed. The Government should move forward and bring forward enabling legislation to create the power and potential - just the power and potential - for local authorities to potentially devise a local visitor accommodation levy for their area and to manage that effectively. I believe this is about strengthening local democracy and our local government. I thank the Minister for his time and look forward to his response. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-24