Galway Independent Column - 8 December 2010

Over 100 business people from Galway city and surrounding areas attended a Public Meeting on December 1 to
articulate their views on Commercial Rates. Organised by the combined lobbying group of Galway Chamber, IBEC, IHF and VFI, the meeting was chaired by Chamber President Carmel Brennan and Q and A directed by Chamber CEO Michael Coyle.
Each of the lobbying partners told the meeting of the position taken by their particular organisation and the common view was that Commercial Rates must be substantially reduced this year or jobs will be lost in the coming year.
The meeting was told by all speakers that jobs are currently at risk, that businesses have cut their costs to the bone and that an extra tax that isn’t related to ability to pay, is just not on.
When the meeting was opened to the floor each business contributor reiterated the need for cuts in Commercial Rates this year.
City Councillors who attended the meeting included Cllrs McNeilis, Connolly, Conneely, Nolan, Keane, Naughton while attendees from Galway County Council included Cllrs Cuddy, McClearn, Hoade and Broderick.
At the meeting the floor questioned what exactly we pay rates for, what do we get for our payments, what will happen in January when businesses will be forced to lay off staff. Galway Chamber and the lobbying partners had proposed a 10% reduction in rates, the floor questioned whether or not this was enough with some calling for 50%. Case studies were told from the floor with the common theme that enough was enough and businesses were now in such straits that they just couldn’t pay.
On the process of commercial rates a question was put to Councillors re their power in the matter. The general answer given was very little, ie ultimately if the councillors don’t manage to pass the budget and strike a rate the decision is then taken out of their hands and passed over to the Dept. of Environment.
The Councillors asked the meeting to put their suggestions for finding ways to reduce commercial rates without cutting frontline services. Michael Coyle finished the meeting by saying that the lobbying group had already sent to each City and County Councillor as well as the Acting City Manager and the County Manager five A4 pages of recommendations for cost cutting in Local Authorities suggested by the Local Government Efficiency Review, a body tasked with finding ways of cost cutting in Local Authorities. If implemented these recommendations would ensure savings that could then be passed on to the business communities in substantial rates reductions.
Other issues from the floor included the difficulty of dealing with the Council re payment plans or options regarding rates payments. Contrary to what the Council’s say it was the attendees views that it is not easy to negotiate with the Council regarding rates difficulties. The meeting believed that there was a distinct lack of flexibility.
Following the Public Meeting on commercial rates the lobbying partners invited each of the political groupings in Galway City Council to meet with them on the subject of rates prior to Monday’s Budget meeting. The partners met with Cllrs Keane, Crowe and Mayor Crowe from Fianna Fail; with Cllrs Conneely and Walshe from Fine Gael; Cllrs McNeilis, Cameron and Nolan from Labour and Cllr O’Flaherty from the Independents.
Again, on behalf of the members of Galway Chamber, the IHF, the VFI and IBEC we made a very strong case for a substantial reduction in commercial rates for the coming year. Again we pointed out to Councillors that we were not in favour of cutting frontline operations rather we felt that there are efficiencies and cost cutting that Local Authorities could put in place in order to make savings that could be passed onto ratepayers.
We pointed out that it is the entrepreneurs, the business people, the job creators who will lead our economy into profitability. These are the commercial ratepayers and they must be given breathing space to lead us out of this period of darkness.
What happened then….
However, on Monday night in City Hall Councillors voted to reduce Commerical Rates by a token 1%. We believe that jobs across Galway City have been put at risk following this decision. Ignoring the impending Government Budget which will be announced today and ignoring the need to reduce its cost base, Galway City Council decided to maintain a €33 million Rates burden on Galway’s business community.
Galway City Councillors decided to ignore the call for a 10% reduction in Rates. In doing so they also ignored yesterday’s Government Budget which at the time of writing was set to take €6billion out of the economy through Tax increases and spending cuts, they ignored the Government’s 4-year National Recovery Plan which calls for cost savings to be achieved by Local Authorities, they ignored the recommendations of the


Government’s Local Authority Efficiency Review Group which urges Local Authorities to integrate administrative functions with neighbouring Local Authorities and move to pooling resources and sharing services and they ignored the pleas from their own business community in Galway for support in order to keep business open and to maintain employment locally.
‘Despite significant levels of unpaid rates and many business closures and empty buildings Galway City Council voted to maintain a €33million Rates Burden on Galway Businesses, the vast majority of which are small businesses operating in vulnerable sectors such as Retail and Hospitality – jobs will be lost in these businesses’, according to Galway Chamber President, Carmel Brennan.
‘Galway City Council’s failure to recognize the difficulties faced by the Irish Economy and the need for change is a serious error of judgement’, added Terry Tyson, Chairman of the Vintners Federation of Ireland Galway.
‘Last night’s City Council meeting was an opportunity for the elected representatives and officials in City Hall to show leadership at this most difficult time for our economy – it was an opportunity not taken and the consequences for jobs in Galway could be very serious indeed’ said Michael Coyle, Galway Chamber CEO.
View the recommendations of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group on our website www.galwaychamber.com