Despite Sligo being a major jumping-on point for the Wild Atlantic Way, with tourism a cornerstone of its economy, local shoppers make little mention of the sector’s woes when asked about their key election issues.
When prompted, most on Monday afternoon in the town’s Canopy shopping centre speak only of how expensive it is to visit local restaurants, cafes and hotels.
“The cost of eating out is wild,” says Gerry Luby, an immigration officer at Ireland West Airport in Knock. “If you are living here you’d know the restaurants to go for, for value. But the amount of people I hear saying the prices are unreal. A meal out is a good 40 per cent more than a few years ago. It would make you think about whether to go out at all,” he says.
For secondary schoolteacher Richard, who does not give his surname, housing is “top of the list”. On socialising out? “It’s very expensive.
“Even the daily coffee, which for some of us is a necessity, is becoming priced out of our reach. We used to be able to go to Dublin and stay in a hotel. That is now priced out of our reach. There is something where the cost increase is not matching the wages. A coffee is now over €4. This is nuts.”
Ger Chrystal, who will vote Sinn Féin, says “houses for people” is the main issue. “My son had to immigrate to Canada. He’s 26 in Toronto. There are six of them from Sligo in the one place. It makes me sad, really sad. He’s gone for birthdays, anniversaries. He’s a home bird really and he’d love to come back, but what is there to come back to?”
Laurence Cullen will vote for “a Government party”, saying housing, the cost of living and “how we welcome immigrants” are on his mind.
“I want to see the Occupied Territories Bill enacted in the next Dáil. I am not anti-Semitic but I think [Israeli prime minister] Mr Nethanyahu and his government are outrageous and someone has to be held accountable. The other thing is assisted suicide. I think if that were to come in, I would fear for elderly and people who were disabled ... and it would undermine the medical profession.”
On the cost of going out, he says: “Things are more expensive. I am just back from Vienna, one of the most cultured cities in Europe, and you can go out and have a meal for half the price of here. Or go to a coffee house and a bit of strudel for less than €8, whereas here it’s very expensive. But having said that, I think, in fairness, a lot of restaurateurs have very high costs.”
In this sprawling four-seat constituency, Sligo-Leitrim, where tourism contributes more than €110 million annually and employs over 5,000, hospitality business owners warn the costs of energy, wages and VAT, as well as the loss of hotel beds to asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees, are damaging the sector and will influence how they vote.
“Oh my God, we need more tourism accommodation,” says Aisling Kelly-Hunter, founder of the Sligo Oyster Experience, an oyster farm offering tours and tastings, in Strandhill. She also owns WB’s Coffee House in Sligo. During the summer a party of 35 cancelled a farm tour because they couldn’t get accommodation anywhere near, she says.
![Aisling Kelly Hunter of Sligo Oyster Experience: 'In the [October] budget we felt really let down.' Photograph: James Connolly](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/EPTHH3ZXPJHJVE63KSNQ5RTYLA.jpg?auth=8fb0b76e0b2285cd22ff949bb2734a0b756be5598b9cb93f9833b3cd0858a1c7&width=800&height=498)
“I have had tours booked who had to stay in Westport [106km away] or Castlebar [88km away]. So people are trying to stay in the region, but there just isn’t enough tourism accommodation. Tourist numbers are definitely down because of accommodation.”
The Department of Children has contracted about 1,400 beds across Sligo and Leitrim to accommodate international protection applicants and Ukrainians. In Rosses Point, the 110-bed Yeats Country Hotel, which had been out of use as a tourism hotel for two years as it housed Ukrainians, has just gone up for sale, giving hope it will return to use as a four- or five-star hotel by next summer.
Kelly-Hunter employs 10 in the cafe – now open a decade. “It is 100 per cent tough at the moment. In the [October] budget we felt really let down. We thought definitely VAT [13.5 per cent] was coming down [to 9 per cent]. After that it is hard to believe any manifesto.”
For Gerard Moore, manager of the Sligo Park Hotel and co-chair of Fáilte Ireland’s destination experience development plan, the next minister must have fewer portfolios. “The current Minister [for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin] has too many in her department. Tourism is facing some significant challenges at the moment.
“Prices are higher than a few years ago, but this region is still less expensive that other parts of Ireland.”
Anthony Gray, who owns two restaurants in Sligo, had decided not to vote Fine Gael following the budget. He supported a large protest in Dublin in mid-October of angry hospitality, hairdresser and retail business owners. “Since then Fine Gael seem to have done a U-turn. They listened and say they will reduce the VAT. I would consider them again. If they get in I will be holding them to account and making sure they do that.”
Back in Strandhill, Neil Byrne is the fourth generation running the Mammy Johnston’s cafe and gelato parlour. “The past couple of years has been absolutely penal for small businesses,” he says. “Before the pandemic my energy bill was between €55 and €65 a day. By last year I was paying €246 a day, for electricity.
“I have pulled that back a bit, changed supplier, but not by much ... The energy companies are making enormous profits while we are being pulverised by them. They are having a laugh at us. That is the major gripe for me. The next government has to sort that. Once you sort that, then everything else is happy.”
Will he vote for an Opposition candidate? “I think the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t,” he says.
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