A total of 14 tourism businesses whose trade suffered because of the use of hotels for refugees have said they were short-changed in a Fáilte Ireland grant scheme, it has emerged, writes Ken Murray.
Only €200,000, or 10%, of a €2m Fáilte Ireland grant, which was intended to directly help tourism businesses hit by bed shortages in their areas, has been paid out.
The money was made available for businesses in areas where more than 15% of accommodation was being used to support refugees from Ukraine.
The chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Adrian Cummins, told the This Week programme on RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday that he believes pubs, cafés and restaurants should have been allowed to apply for the Fáilte Ireland grant.
“This is a prime example of a scheme that was designed not to work and not to help those businesses in need in terms of the original issue that was that towns and villages across the country have seen tourist accommodation displacement due to Government contracts given to hotels,” he said.
“This fund was designated to help support downstream businesses that saw their level of income drop,” he said.
The programme was told that the outstanding €1.8m that wasn’t paid out was dispersed to other Fáilte Ireland campaigns, as only five businesses out of the 19 that applied were approved for the funding.
The Business Support Grant for Activities and Attractions was announced in Budget 2024.
Its objective was to assist businesses in areas where more than 15% of accommodation is being used to support Ukrainian refugees.
The areas outlined as meeting that criteria were counties Donegal, Leitrim, Clare, Offaly, Wicklow, Mayo and Cavan.
The main criterion for qualifying for a grant was based that a business in one of these counties, and several other localities, had to be able to prove a 30% drop in turnover in 2023 compared to turnover in 2019, allowing for inflation.
According to Cummins, “Out of the €10m fund that was initially announced, we’re only seeing €200,000 of that going to actual businesses.
“Other businesses that are affected like pubs, restaurants, and cafés have had no opportunity to access any fund.
“And they should have been allowed to access the remaining amount of money that was left there instead of it going back into a State agency.”
CSO figures show that over 107,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since March 2022.
The Ennistymon electoral area in Co. Clare has seen the biggest influx in the regions, with Ukrainian refugees now making up 12.48% of people living there.
According to Fáilte Ireland data, 25% of tourism beds in Co. Clare are contracted to the Government, the highest percentage of any county.
The chief of Ennis Chamber in Co. Clare, Margaret O’Brien, told the programme that she is disappointed to hear only five businesses in Ireland have received approval for the grant.
She said around 11% of Clare’s economy depends on tourism and that some businesses came close to the criteria but just missed out.
Ms O’Brien told RTÉ: “Talking to some of the businesses that had applied and weren’t successful, I think the feeling was that there were very strict rules and they were observed to the letter.
“I have heard of businesses that had to show they were 30% down over a given period and one business was only 1% or 2% away from that and they were turned down on that basis.
“There was one business that would have definitely met the criteria of being 30% down and the only hotel in their village is completely in contract, but they just weren’t in the right electoral division to make the application so they weren’t considered.
“It’s disappointing. I think, when the numbers were so low, it’s a shame that they didn’t revisit the criteria and maybe open it up a bit more,” she said.
In response, Fáilte Ireland said that fewer businesses than it had initially anticipated qualified to receive the grant.
It said that the €200,000 that was awarded went mostly to water-based activity businesses while the remaining €1.8m was dispersed across a summer daycation campaign, a domestic online travel agent campaign, and on a domestic destination promotion.