Dublin hotel prices for concerts
Deputy Doherty raised the cost of attending Bruce Springsteen concerts in Dublin, arguing hotel prices are so high that travelling abroad can be cheaper. The Minister agreed it is a real problem affecting tourism and Dublin, though he said solutions are difficult and require several Departments.
The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is the Green Party Minister responsible for transport. We have another Green Party Minister responsible for tourism. Bruce Springsteen is coming to town next year to play three nights at the RDS. So out of control have hotel prices become that a caller, Stephen, from the west called in to Ocean FM today to explain that the cost to see Bruce Springsteen and to stay in Dublin for a night was so high that he looked at alternatives. He found it is €200 cheaper for the concert ticket, the flight and a night in Rome than to travel up the road to Dublin and stay a night in a hotel here after the concert. Stephen and his friends are flying off to Rome to see Bruce Springsteen in the Circus Maximus instead of the RDS, replacing one circus with another. We have a Minister who wants people to travel less while the accommodation crisis in the city is making people travel more. We could not make this up. I am going to ask the Minister again as I have been doing for weeks now what the Government is going to do about the rip-off hotel prices that are being charged in this city.
Comment on this
No, I cannot reply in Italian.
It is a real issue. It is not good for Dublin or for anyone. What is happening has to stop. We have to find less expensive ways. It is not an easy challenge but the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, will work on it. The Tánaiste and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment also have a role. Tourism is one of the most important industries in the country. It brings some €6 billion into the country every year. It is not as much as we spend abroad, mind you, but it is still an important industry. I worked in tourism and noted that, as with many industries, it works well when there is collaboration. It works where industry groups come together to say we cannot have prices at that level, even if it means, obviously, the industry is hugely profitable and it is very tempting, because in the long run it will kill the industry. That has to stop.