WEST Cork hospitality business owners have expressed their frustration with the cost of doing business, and the current vat rate of 13.5%, at an open business meeting in Clonakilty this week.
One popular restaurant owner hinted that they may have to take drastic measures following next month’s budget.
Organised by Fine Gael Cllr Noel O’Donovan, the meeting was attended by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke, who had also earlier visited Bandon and Kinsale.
Peter Shanahan, owner of the Fish Basket in Long Strand, said that while his business had a very busy summer, the rewards are not just there with rising costs ‘gone bananas’ across the board.
‘There are lots of restaurants and cafés under severe pressure. We ourselves can’t afford to invest in our business and all the plans we had are shelved for the winter,’ he said.
‘We are also trying to get the vat rate reduced to 9% to help small businesses and that has to be the top of the agenda.’
He hinted that he and his wife Elaine may be forced to make some drastic decisions about the business after the Budget next month.
‘We adore the job that we are in, we love meeting and contacting people, but love won’t put money in the mortgage. We are battering down the hatches and waiting for a brutal winter.’
The speed of increases in the minimum wage will also cripple the hospitality sector, Shane Lowney of Scannell’s Bar, in the town, warned. He added that they cannot invest in their business due to the uncertainty at the moment.
Cllr O’Donovan said the culmination of these factors is making the operating of businesses even more difficult.
Speaking to The Southern Star afterwards, Minister Peter Burke agreed it’s important to make small family businesses more sustainable in the long term by lowering the cost base and reducing their tax burden.
‘We’ll do our best to lower the cost base and I have made my pre-Budget submissions on the hospitality vat rate,’ he said.
