Mr. Seán Murphy:

It all ties together. The big problem in Dún Laoghaire, Arklow or Wicklow, for example, is presented by the Dundrum centre. It has almost nothing to do with landlords in Dún Laoghaire; rather it has to do with the fact that the footfall has moved to Dundrum because Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was chasing rates on a €20 million revenue base in Dún Laoghaire.

With regard to town council areas, the integration of town council areas into county council areas was endorsed by Chambers Ireland. However, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has issued a guidance document on the AMAI website on the integration of town councils into their respective local authorities. It contains a specific reference that moneys will be ring-fenced for the old town council area to be run by the new municipal council entity which is a sub-committee of the county council. The problem is that it specifically states that if the town council-related councillors reduce rates, in particular, car park rates, the amount of moneys transferred from the county council area into the municipality area will fall accordingly. If they increase the revenues from town council parking charges, they will get a bigger chunk from the county council. Frankly, this is an incentive to have less flexibility in parking arrangements and to jack up rates for car parking in order that councillors can fund their pet projects.

For example, in Letterkenny there is free parking for the first half an hour, which is very satisfactory because it delivers a churn in retail spending and customers. It balances the playing field with the out-of-town centres. The view of Chambers Ireland is that the town council should not be addicted to car parking fees, as is the case. The window for free parking should be up to two hours every day, thereby facilitating families and consumers to come to the town centre as opposed to the outskirts. This issue is mimicked across the country in places such as Ennis where one of the big supermarket retailers wants to get out of town because many of the town centre parking spaces have been taken up by residents living over shops. Longford Chamber of Commerce similarly fought a significant court case at some cost to its budget to stop another big anchor retailer tenant moving out of town when attracted by lower rates and the ability to facilitate blanket parking in that area. These are the kind of measures Chambers Ireland supports. Talk of a blanket across the board 30% cut in rates will not be effective. If a business is paying €1,500 in rates in Portlaoise, a 30% cut will not be the deciding factor in whether the business stays open or closes. However, a targeted rate abatement or a rate reduction targeted at legacy or older businesses with low margins in town centres would be far more effective in supporting those businesses which are focused on the domestic economy and dealing with a 20% decline in demand, as evidenced by the ESRI. It is unprecedented in the 21st century, apart from Iceland. We need radical supports for town centre businesses.