Friday, 11th February 2011

Small business people all over the country tell Joe the strain they are under to pay rates to their various councils.

Thomas from Donegal has a family business in Ardara for the past 60 years. He tells Joe how gutted he was two weeks ago to close his supermarket and pub. Rates of €11,500 and a water bill of €1,100 were crippling him and he couldn't continue to trade.

John a furniture wholesaler in Rathnure Co Wexford tells Joe he's paying €30,000 in rates. He says the council don't even have any signposts to Rathnure but when he erected some he was told to remove them or face being fined.

Breda owns 3 Centra stores and pays €50,000 in rates to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. It will take Breda until June of this year to pay her rates for 2010. With things getting tighter all the time Breda asks what next for the small businessperson?

Callers from Cork, Dublin, Roscrea, Wexford, Kilkenny, Greystones and many more locations tell Joe their businesses can't cope with the rates they are expected to pay and they demand a change to the system.