Dublin councils seek national law for tourist tax

Two local councils in Dublin are working together to support a tax on tourist stays. They want the national government to allow councils to collect a "transient visitor tax" from tourists using hotels and short-term rentals like Airbnbs. Fingal County Council has reached out to councils across Ireland to call for this legislation. They believe that this tax could help fund local initiatives to attract tourists to stay longer in their area. However, some opponents think the tax could make Dublin less appealing by increasing costs for visitors. Dublin City Council agrees with the idea and is seeking cooperation from other councils, including South Dublin and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is expected to show support for the initiative soon. James Humphreys, a councillor in Fingal, highlighted that many visitors are just passing through, especially around Dublin airport. He hopes the tax could be used to promote longer stays in Fingal. However, any tax cannot be implemented without approval from the national government. Fingal has previously contacted the Finance Minister about this request. Séamas McGrattan, a councillor in Dublin City, mentioned that a united approach could avoid disrupting the tourism market and increase pressure on the national government to act. In 2023, Dublin City Council proposed a 1% hotel tax, supported by its ruling coalition. Tourist taxes are common in many global cities. For example, Venice charges visitors between €1-5 per night to support city maintenance. Similarly, Vienna has a 3.2% tax on accommodation bills, and Lisbon recently raised its tourist tax from €2 to €4 per night. The proposal has faced criticism from the Irish Hotels Federation. They argue that hotels already contribute significantly to the city’s budget and fear that new taxes could hurt Dublin's competitiveness in the global tourism market.