asked the Minister for Local Government if he will grant a rates relief to hotels and other establishments connected with the tourist industry which because of the nature of their business are open only for a number of months during the tourist season.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Rates Relief for Hotels.
39.
I have no statutory authority to give such rates relief.
In that short, curt reply is the Minister indicating that he and his Government do not have any sympathy at all for the owners of family hotels and other institutions who are faced with a very serious financial position?
When will the Deputy ask the question?
There are many hotels in my constituency where the income from——
I must remind the Deputy that he may not make a speech on every occasion on which he stands up. He must ask a brief question relevant to the subject matter.
Is the Minister not going to grant some relief to the owners of hotels whose incomes last year were not even sufficient to meet the rate bill? Is the Minister going to force them out of business?
The only answer I can give is that at least we are giving them more consideration than the Deputy's Government did because we considered the position and we found that we have no statutory authority to give such rates relief. The Deputy who asked the supplementary question had many years to consider the matter and, if he was worrying about his constituents, he could have done it then if he thought it worth while.
It has arisen only recently.
That is not so. There was a question earlier on the issue of the relief of rates on hotels and Deputy Molloy, who was Minister for Local Government, said he had no statutory authority to give such relief and he could not do it and the tourist industry was suffering even more at that time.
That is not so.
These people are getting some relief due to the arrangements which are being made this year, a relief they would not have got if the Fianna Fáil scheme had been implemented.
Halfpennies.