With the Stay and Spend Scheme scheduled to terminate at the end of the month, the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, responded to Parliamentary Questions on Wednesday, 21 April, on whether the scheme would be reviewed or extended beyond April 2021. The Minister indicated that a review of further supports for the Tourism and Hospitality sector may be appropriate in a few months’ time, but the scheme would not be extended through the summer months. The Stay and Spend Scheme is provided for in Section 478A TCA 1997.

The Minister detailed:

• “While I am very mindful of the significant difficulties that remain to be faced by the hospitality sector, I have made the point previously that the broad interests of taxpayers also need to be taken into account and that these may not be best served by extending the scheme over the summer months in circumstances where we will all be staying at home and hopefully holidaying in Ireland. This is particularly the case when other very significant support measures will remain in place. Taking these factors into account, it may be more appropriate to take stock again in a number of month’s time and assess if the position needs to be reconsidered at that point.”

The Minister then went on to summarise the supports that remain available to the hospitality sector.