Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The next petition is No. P00056/24, "A Review of Business Improvement District Scheme", from the Restaurants Association of Ireland. It states:

I am writing to you today in my capacity as CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) which has a large number of restaurants, café, gastropubs and other food-led businesses that are members of the representative body in Dublin city. In light of a number of concerns raised by Restaurants Association of Ireland members and other businesses within the relevant area of Dublin city, I would like to petition the Committee to hold a meeting on the Business Improvement District (BIDs) scheme in Dublin city centre.

The petitioner "would like to petition the Committee to hold a meeting on the Business Improvement District (BIDs) scheme in Dublin city centre". The action taken to resolve the issue of concern before submitting the petition was as follows:

The Restaurants Association of Ireland as advocated to Local Authorities who conduct the plebiscite in order to mandate Business Improvement Districts. Unfortunately, the Local Authorities have referred to the current legislation which must be changed in order for the list of eligible voters [to] be published.

On 1 July 2024, the secretariat wrote to Dublin City Council seeking a response advising of its views within 14 days. On 3 July 2024, the secretariat received a response from Dublin City Council. The recommendation is that we publish the response from Dublin City Council and that the correspondence from Dublin City Council be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. Do members have any views on this?