Mr. Adrian Cummins:

I thank the committee for the invitation to present to it today.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland represents 2,700 restaurants, coffee shops, gastro pubs and hotel restaurants. It would be remiss of me not to thank all Deputies and Senators for their continuous support for the 9% VAT rate for food and tourism attractions. The Restaurants Association of Ireland has long advocated that the 9% VAT rate for food and tourism is the correct one when benchmarked against our European Union colleagues. Since 2011, we have created over 50,000 jobs in our sector. Many of these jobs are in rural communities where tourism is very often the only employer.

Today's discussion is around the cost of doing business. It is widely known, with many reports outlining it, that Ireland is the costliest place in the European Union to open a business. Over the past several years, insurance premiums for businesses and the public have rocketed. In 2017, the average annual insurance premium for the restaurant sector rose by 45%. This is unsustainable for any business, let alone our sector. The problem lies squarely at the door of the insurance companies and the legal profession. We would welcome a full and absolute investigation into the outrageous insurance premium increases over the past two years and why payouts to claimants have increased by 400% in the past five years. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board has been totally bypassed by the legal profession to maximise profit for its industry to the detriment of small businesses and the general consumer looking for insurance. The time for action to deal with this issue is now. Otherwise, our sector will be forced to source insurance from outside the jurisdiction for our industry.

Before a business opens its doors, local authority rates will be the first charge for that business. Over one third of all local authority budgets come from commercial rates to the tune of just over €1.5 billion per annum. Small businesses, restaurants, coffee shops and pubs which serve food complain to our organisation that their commercial rates are not good value for money. For a restaurant, the calculation of rates does not take into account the ability to pay, the size of the premises, profitability, numbers employed or location. However, other licensed premises such as hotels and public houses are valued by reference to the trading data of their property. When a small business receives its commercial rates bill for a year, why does the bill not show where exactly its commercial rates are spent? Why is the payroll cost excluded from the percentage of the commercial rate given to a business? This should be investigated by the committee. Local authorities should be instructed to split out the payroll cost and it benchmarked between local authorities.

Water charges are another cost to small business which most consumers do not understand. Harmonisation of water charges for all businesses must be a matter or priority. Why do two counties, side by side, have the highest and lowest commercial water charges? It does not make sense.

Business improvement district levies were brought in through primary legislation in 2006. The levy is generally a 5% top-up on commercial rates, double taxation at its best. The measure is in use in Dún Laoghaire, Dundalk, Sligo, Sandyford and Dublin city centre but the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation is advocating its roll-out across the country. Business improvement districts are run by private companies and are outside the remits of the freedom of information legislation and the Standards in Public Office. For example, in Dublin city centre, €29 million was raised from this tax on businesses. We would like the committee to investigate this levy.

Another bugbear of our industry is the famous sunshine tax, otherwise known as outdoor seating charges. Outdoor seating charges are seen by businesses as a tax on their business. There is no benchmark or uniformity of charging with regards to this tax with some local authorities maximising it for profit. For example, for every €1 spent by Dublin City Council administering the charge, €4 is being raised from businesses. This makes no sense to a small business and is another example of double taxation.

The fats, oils and grease trap charge for restaurants is an environmental charge with an average annual cost of €1,000 per business. It is another example of double taxation. Any restaurant will have a minimum of 28 different licences, regulations or regulatory regimes with which it must legally comply. We were advised in 2012 that work would be conducted by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation to streamline inspections for all businesses, utilising technology and reducing paperwork and form filling. For example, an environmental health officer could arrive in a restaurant in the morning to carry out a food safety audit. However, he or she would not be allowed conduct an audit of fats, oils and grease trap standards, even though he or she would be fully qualified to do so. That is two inspections, two regimes and two fees for that individual business.

Excise duty, specifically around wine, is the highest in Europe.

An increase in excise duty would be a retrograde step to the competitiveness of our sector. Other forms of taxation for restaurants around copyright, music performance and motion picture licensing are a major concern. We have three different organisations in Ireland collecting copyright fees from small businesses across the country in respect of three different types of copyright and these businesses must also have a standard television licence.

On the shortage of skilled labour in our sector, since 2012, the Restaurants Association of Ireland has been highlighting the shortage of chefs in this country. I will explain the reason for the shortage of not only chefs but all skilled labour in the hospitality industry. Each year, our colleges and institutes of technology qualify, on average, 1,800 chefs. As per the 2015 expert skills report for hospitality conducted by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, we require 5,000 chefs per year to have a functioning hospitality industry. The problem is that we do not have one organisation with sole responsibility for hospitality and tourism training policy in Ireland. This problem arose with the dismantling of CERT, which was the State agency for hospitality training and management in 2003. We are asking the committee for its support for the re-establishment of CERT or a small secretariat with responsibility for hospitality training policy and development in Ireland. Until we have leadership, we have nothing and, unfortunately, decisions are being made by State organisations to spend taxpayers' money in a way that will not benefit our sector. The tourism and hospitality industry is seeking this leadership as a matter of urgency. If one compares the tourism and hospitality industry to the agricultural industry this is akin to the dismantling of Teagasc as the training authority for farmers. Ireland is either serious about tourism and hospitality, or its not. Unfortunately, the State agency for tourism development in Ireland, Failte Ireland, closed training centres around the country from 2010 to 2013 and it has no interest in re-entering the chef training space.

I thank the committee for listening to our concerns and we welcome any questions from members.