by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent
TO PARAPHRASE Peter Finch from the movie Network,
the business people of Inishowen are mad as hell,
and they are not going to take it anymore.
That much is obvious after last Thursday evening’s
public meeting in the Ballyliffin Lodge and Spa
hotel, hosted by the Ballyliffin Development
Committee.
A much-anticipated decision that would see Inishowen
businesses band together for a rates strike may not
have been made, but the after listening to business
people air their grievances about the current state
of the economy, it’s clear the rates issue is not
going to go away any time soon.
With turnover down, many businesses are under
increased pressure to fulfil their rates
obligations. They believe a rate reduction must be
brought to allow their firms to survive.
Ballyliffin businessman Cecil Doherty revealed that
his Ballyliffin Lodge and Spa was paying commercial
rates of €100,000 a year and €38,000 in water
charges. These charges were, he remarked, ‘unfair
and unsustainable.’
“My [yearly] water bill for this hotel is higher
than my oil bill, how can that be right? Tomorrow
[Friday] I have to pay 90 people their wages for the
week and let me tell you, that’s a hard bill to
pay,” said Mr Doherty, who added that Ballyliffin’s
hotels, the golf club and Doagh [visitors centre]
combined brought 300,000 visitors a year to the
area.
“We must send out a message to our political masters
that we will take recourse to some militant action
if our message is not heard,” he added.
Buncrana Town Councillor and Euro Spar, Buncrana,
owner Paul Bradley revealed he had taken out a loan
last autumn to cover his rates payments.
“It took from the start of September to December 12
to get approval for this loan. If the bank had‘ve
pulled the plug on me, I would have had to pull the
plug on my business.”
Mr Bradley was in favour of putting a rates strike
on the table as an option – a move that was
supported by a show-of-hands majority – but added
that further discussions were needed get a consensus
on whether and when this course of action should be
taken.
Clonmany businesswoman Christina McEleney said
people needed to be careful when they talked about
staging a rates strike.
“Right now we are talking about survival so we need
to be careful when talking about a rates strike. I
believe we can negotiate a reduction in the rates we
pay, but it has to be done collectively and on a
sound legal footing. Don’t put individual businesses
out on a limb.”
Muff farmer Jim McLaughlin added “I invested in a
large number of heifers after the Government
guaranteed me a payment of €80 per head a year for
five years. The following year it was down to €40.
They broke their deal to me, I say offer them half
[the due rates] and see how we get on.”
Those business people who raised the issue of the
minimum wage when they spoke said it needed to be
reduced, including Emmet Clarke of Clarke Oil. He
said “The minimum wage [€8.65 an hour] is absolutely
ridiculous. It’s a joke to talk about freezing it.
It needs to be reduced.”
Other issues discussed included the need for a more
efficient planning system in Donegal, the
possibility of sending a non-partisan single issue
Inishowen jobs candidate to the next Dáil and the
need for banks to start lending again to small
businesses. |
