Neven Maguire issues grim warning about future of restaurants and cafes in Ireland amid VAT row

The celebrity cook, who has a 20-room hotel and restaurant at Blacklion in Co Cavan, said that since the VAT rate was increased from nine to 13.5 per cent in December last year a staggering 612 restaurants, cafes, gastropubs and other food-led businesses had closed down.

Top telly chef Neven Maguire has warned that many restaurants and cafes nationwide will close due to the Government’s failure to cut the VAT rate for the hospitality sector.

He claimed that the failure to do so in Budget 2025 was “a knife through the heart” of the food and drinks industry.

The celebrity cook, who has a 20-room hotel and restaurant at Blacklion in Co Cavan, said that since the VAT rate was increased from nine to 13.5 per cent in December last year a staggering 612 restaurants, cafes, gastropubs and other food-led businesses had closed down.

He added: “This is a challenging time for many within the sector, with fears the current crisis will only get worse. The failure to cut the VAT rate in the Budget was a knife through the heart for all of us. We have 20 rooms at MacNean House and only for that we would not be able to survive.

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“I think it is very unfair when small businesses like cafes, coffee shops, and delis are in the same pot as big hotels. They can’t seem to segregate that and it’s a real difficulty for so many. I think a reduction in the VAT rate would have been an absolute lifeline for them.”

Neven was speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show on his local radio station Northern Sound. The popular chef — who is currently appearing on RTE One with his show Neven’s Coastal Food Trails — has been a trailblazer for promoting traditional Irish food across the country as well as the hospitality sector.

Neven’s restaurant, which was originally started by his mother, is very popular and has a year long waiting list. The entrepreneur built on his hotel, MacNean House, next to it.

He grows all his own food and has been running the business since 2001. Neven also has a culinary range with Dunnes Stores supermarket chain.

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