SMEs from the tourism, hospitality, retail and other sectors will gather outside Leinster House today for a 'Day of Action' highlighting the cost of doing business and the lack of support provided by the government in Budget 2025.
The rally is organised by the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI), the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) and other small business representative groups, and aims to highlight the mounting cost pressures on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) arising from government policies.
“Unfortunately, the lack of support for hospitality and small businesses in Budget 2025 made this demonstration inevitable," said Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland.
“We are calling on the government to engage with us meaningfully so that we can collaborate on policies that will fix the broken model facing hospitality businesses in Ireland today and return viability to the sector.”
‘All At Once’
The leaders organising the rally are protesting against a number of policies which have arrived virtually ‘all at once’ including increases in the National Minimum Wage and paid statutory sick days, the planned transition to a Living Wage and the upcoming introduction of pension auto-enrolment in September 2025.
Combined with soaring energy costs and inflationary pressures, the group claims these government measures have placed immense strain on SMEs, particularly those in the labour-intensive hospitality and retail sectors.
"The hospitality sector is the backbone of our communities, particularly in rural Ireland," said Pat Crotty, CEO of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland.
"Yet, despite repeated warnings, the government has ignored the reality we face. The measures announced in the Budget simply do not go far enough to safeguard the future of our industry."
The Restaurants Association of Ireland and Vintners’ Federation of Ireland have urged Taoiseach Simon Harris to meet with them urgently to collaborate on measures that will prevent widespread hospitality business closures over the winter.
