Reform needed now
The CSNA outlines the changes it would like the Government to enact within its sector to ensure independent store owners can remain competitive
Print19 April 2011
Now that we know the exact composition of the new government, we would like to believe that each Minister and Minister of State will carry out an extensive survey of their respective departments and regulatory agencies to ensure that each department works collectively towards restoring our finances and making Ireland a place in which we can all do business.
Competitiveness cannot be achieved, and viability cannot be sustained as long as businesses are subjected to excessive and frequently obsessive compliance and bureaucratic overkill.
Local authorities charge businesses rates upon properties that are doing less business and making substantially less profits on this reduced turnover. The CSNA needs to see imaginative and workable solutions to business rates, up to and including the re-introduction of domestic rates. As businesses, we are paying separately for water and refuse collection. It is not unreasonable for us to expect the burden of running the local infrastructure to be spread more evenly amongst those enjoying the benefits of living in the local authority area.
The entire JLC structure needs to be abolished, not amended. It is manifestly unfair to expect one group of employers to have a legally-binding wage structure imposed upon them and allow other employers selling similar products to apply the national minimum wage. Furthermore, in relation to premiums for “unsocial hours” and Sunday working, it is high time that our legislation reflected the social reality – Sunday is a normal day for retailers, our customers have an expectation that we are open for trade. The new government must take steps to remove these outdated concepts and reduce the cost of providing service to our customers, a cost that cannot be recouped through increased pricing.
With more state agencies and regulatory authorities choosing to reduce their overheads by closing their cash offices and outsourcing collection of tolls, tags and tickets through service providers such as Payzone, we would like to see a commitment by these authorities to ensure that retailers providing these services (at one remove) on their behalf would be properly rewarded for their work. With wages costing almost 20 cent per minute, and bank charges as high as 50c per €100 lodged, it is obviously not possible for any retailer to provide the extensive (and increasing) array of bill pay services and make a profit on the transaction. We would expect that as their corporate social responsibility contribution, semi-state, local authority and statutory agencies would insist that retailers providing these services would not be expected to provide them at a loss.
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