The €50m question: From lidos to late buses and a boating lake in Phoenix Park, how to spend Dublin’s tourist tax windfall

Ireland is an outlier when it comes to the imposition of tourist taxes. The hospitality industry has always rejected the idea, but it is commonplace throughout Europe. Some 21 out of 27 EU member states have some form of tourist tax, with long-established hotel ‘city charges’ in place in the likes of Paris, Amsterdam and Rome. Irish fans supporting the football team in Czechia this week would have paid the fee when booking their Prague accommodation. Few would have quibbled. Many would hardly...