Media Coverage – February 2025

“We’re on the Frontlines of Inflation”: The Recent Rise of Closures in Ireland’s Food Industry

Eve McGann interviews the manager of Cornucopia about the Irish food and beverage business’ challenges to operate with high taxation and rents.

Pending 9% VAT rate for food and catering sectors to cost €675m

Restoring the 9 per cent VAT rate for food and catering, as Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has signalled is his intention, will come at a “significant cost” of €675 million per year.

Fine Gael pledged to cut the VAT rate for the hospitality sector to 11 per cent during last year’s general election campaign.

Are we going to be left with nothing but Starbucks and McDonalds?

In all, more than 600 restaurants were forced to close last year. The Restaurants Association of Ireland has estimated that an average of two restaurants or cafes are now closing daily in Ireland. We are haemorrhaging hundreds of millions to our economy, yet the government has done very little to protect jobs in cafes and restaurants in towns and villages nationwide.