The Irish government has disclosed that it is exploring the idea of imposing a tourist tax. However, the Republican Party (Fianna Fall) is not in favor of doing so.
The Dublin City Taskforce’s publication prompted the discussions about imposing a tourist tax. A number of recommendations were put forward by the task force for improving the city centre.
This led to a discussion about pushing up the cost for people who travel to Ireland.
The Changes
According to the authorities, if the changes are made across Dublin, they would cost somewhere between €750 million and €1 billion.
This would be on top of the yearly expenditures that are between €100 million and €150 million. It is highly likely that these funds will be generated via a tourist tax.
It is also possible that there might be an increase in congestion charges and vacant property levies. But, these have not been directly recommended.
Simon Harris, the head of the government, or Taoiseach, said that he was not against the idea of charging a tourist tax.
But, it should be noted that the coalition parties have yet to bring up congestion charges. The Irish PM said that a tourist tax merits consideration because they pay it when they go abroad.
The Data
The Central Statistics Office Ireland revealed data, which showed that in July 2024, the total number of international visitors in Ireland stood at 655,400.
The United Kingdom is where most of the visitors were from. They made up 32.2% of the total. Meanwhile, 22.7% of the visitors were from the United States, while 7.5% came from Germany.
Estimates indicate that the total amount spent by these tourists on their trips to Ireland in the month of July was €919.2 million.
But, it is important to note that not everyone is in favor of introducing a tourist tax.
Rising Costs
Darragh O’Brien, the Housing Minister, is against the idea of introducing a tourist tax. He has argued that there has already been an increase in the costs in the tourism sector.
He also highlighted that it was not a convenient time to introduce such a tax. In fact, he also noted that no such recommendations had been made up till now.
O’Brien added that the last thing he wanted to see was to increase the costs in the hospitality sector. He said that the government’s aim was to support the sector.
Their aim was to increase their offerings in Dublin and to attract more visitors, both locally and from abroad.
One of the recommendations of the Task Force is to enhance security in the city centre. This can be achieved with the deployment of about 1,000 police officers over a period of three years.
The country will be able to improve security when it increases the number of guardians. According to a report, Dublin does not meet the EU average proportion of police to residents.
The average stands at one police officer for every 293 inhabitants, but the current average in Dublin is one police officer per 373 inhabitants.
