A hostel in Dublin is charging €167 to sleep in a bunk bed for the night with nine other strangers in the dorm, Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has told the Dáil.
Mr Doherty said supporters travelling from Derry, Clare and Cork to the capital next Saturday for All-Ireland GAA quarter-finals at Croke Park will be faced with “rip-off prices”.
“Hotels are charging over €400 per night and we have hostels charging eye-watering rates for bunk beds for those that will be travelling here to Dublin next weekend,” the Donegal TD said.
“One hostel is charging €167 for the pleasure of sleeping in a bunk bed with nine other strangers in the dorm. That is absolutely crazy. That is this city in the year 2022.”
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Mr Doherty said the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe had extended the 9 per cent VAT rate for the hospitality sector until next March and asked if he had engaged with the industry to ensure savings were being passed on to consumers.
“Have you done that, and more importantly, what is your Government going to do to tackle the rip-off prices that people are being charged,” Mr Doherty asked the Minister.
In response, Mr Donohoe said the Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin and her officials were engaging with the hospitality sector “to make clear to them the price that they will pay in the future for putting in place prices that don’t deliver good value and discourage international and domestic tourism within our own country”.
Mr Donohoe said the “greatest losers” from unaffordable pricing would be Irish tourism.
Derry play Clare in the first quarter-final on Saturday, June 25th at 3.45pm, followed by Dublin versus Cork at 6pm.
The following day will see another double header at Croke Park where Galway face Armagh at 1.45pm before Kerry play Mayo at 4pm.
