According to a report published by the Restaurant Association of Ireland, 605 new jobs in the food, tourism, and hospitality sectors have been created in Mayo since the reduced VAT rate of nine per cent was introduced in July 2011. To highlight the scale of job creation, the report compares the number of direct new jobs to a major local employer, revealing that the 605 extra jobs created in Mayo is more than four times the number of people also employed in Mayo at Knock International Airport.
Speaking about the launch of the report and the success of the reduced VAT rate, Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said: “As this report proves, in terms of creating new jobs in the food and accommodation sector, the introduction of the new VAT rate in July 2011 has been a major driver of local employment growth. Six hundred and five new direct jobs have been created in Mayo alone, with 21,633 new direct jobs created across the whole country.
“This is a very conservative estimate and does not include the number of indirect jobs created in the wider economy as a result of the multiplier effect. When the multiplier effect is included, the total number of new jobs is even more impressive, with 883 jobs created in Mayo and 31,584 jobs created nationally. More recent CSO figures released for Q2 show even greater employment statistic increases.”
Mark Cadden, from Bar One in Castlebar, said: “The nine per cent VAT has given a much needed lifeline to my business. With the reduced VAT rate, our business has grown and the number of jobs we have created has grown from 14 to 18 people. The retention of VAT at nine per cent will protect the jobs that have been created in our industry.”
