Heartbreak hotel: the state should not become junkyard for investors

THE Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) indicated recently that new hotels built since 2002 have been insolvent since their construction.

They also say the entire hotel sector has been insolvent since 2008 as a consequence of high debt, low asset values and poor profitability. Now they want the taxpayer to clean up this mess through state intervention to reduce industry capacity by 15,000 bedrooms in 217 hotels on terms that are utterly outrageous.

Chief among their demands is that hotel capital tax allowances granted since 2003 should not be clawed back by the Revenue should any hotel exit the industry less than seven years since its completion.