Galway City Council Chief supports hotel ‘bedroom tax’ idea

A bedroom tax, levied on visitors who stay overnight in large Galway hotels, would be beneficial to the city, according to the Chief Executive of Galway City Council.

Brendan McGrath said a levy of 50 cent or €1 per bed, per night, could generate much-needed revenue for the local authority.

Mr McGrath said a similar tax is applied in other jurisdictions across Europe and it did not deter tourists.

He said the City Council had looked at the possibility of introducing a hotel bed levy, but he said legislation would have to be introduced at national level first to enable such a by-law locally.

Mr McGrath made his comments during a discussion on the 2017 annual financial statement of the City Council.

He was referring to a budgetary proposal put forward by Sinn Féin last year to establish a cross-party committee to examine the proposal to introduce a bedroom tax.

Cllr Cathal Ó Conchúir first proposed the ‘Transient Occupancy Tax’, which he said would not hit B&Bs and would only apply to people who stay in hotels with 20-plus rooms.

“There are approximately 2,700 beds in hotels with more than 20 rooms in the city. Our proposal is for an occupancy tax of €2 per night. Based on a conservative occupancy rate of 62%, we estimate this measure would generate an additional income of €1.25 million.

“We were told the occupancy rates are much higher in the city, and are at about 80% on average, but we’ve gone with a realistic and conservative occupancy rate,” said Cllr Ó Conchúir last year when outlining the plan.

Mr McGrath said last week the proposal had merit but would have to be introduced at national level. He suggested it could be something that’s thrown into the mix when hotels seek to maintain the lower rate of VAT in the hospitality sector.

Referring to Cllr Ó Conchúir, Fine Gael City Councillor Pádraig Conneely said “you’ll have to get into Government first” before the bedroom tax is enacted.