State urged to share rip-off blame

BUSINESS leaders are furious at the Government over complaints of rip-off Ireland and believe the State should take its share of the blame.

Speaking at the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland (CCI) National Business Forum 2005, CCI chief executive John Dunne said business people were also incensed at complains that Irish employers treat foreign workers badly.

“We are fed up hearing lectures about rip-off Ireland and how it’s the job of business to sort it out.

“The single biggest driver of costs and the single biggest threat to competitiveness for most Irish businesses has to do with the number of direct charges from Government and local government,” he said.

Mr Dunne said it was hard to listen to complaints of rip-off Ireland and the treatment of foreign workers while the Government wastes money and treats international workers badly.

“Double standards are what we are objecting to. We don’t mind the State demanding the highest performance of the business community but not when it is not delivering itself,” he fumed.

Mr Dunne said that international workers find Irish employers treat them well but complain when they have to interact with State agencies.

“The Government can afford to perpetuate its own bad practices because it’s enjoying an extraordinary boom, a lot of it based on once-off benefits like the sort of recoveries from the tax amnesties,” he said.

Mr Dunne said the country has a housing sector which is basically dysfunctional in terms of the tax structure. “But the Government won’t touch it because it’s worth too much money to them.

“In these kinds of issues there is lack of courage and leadership.

“We accept the Government holding us to the highest standards. However, we think it’s only reasonable that Government is held to the highest standards as well,” he said.

Mr Dunne also complained that Irish business were paying e2 billion in charges and levies to the Government and local government, half of the e4bn paid in Corporation Tax.

Most Irish businesses are not paying major corporation tax because they aren’t making major profits, he added.

“But they are paying substantial service costs because those costs are above the line. They come out regardless of whether you’re making a profit or not.

“They are a cost of doing business, and the only way you can avoid them is to stop doing business,” he said.

And 90% of delegates in a poll at the National Business Forum stated that public sector benchmarking has failed to deliver on promised productivity reforms in the public sector.

Mr Dunne said: “Unless and until productivity gains have been achieved, quantified and agreed, the next round of benchmarking cannot proceed and payment increases cannot be made.

“This survey confirms the views of the Irish business community in this regard.

“The main principal of benchmarking was that costs would be controlled in the public sector and that real productivity gains would be delivered.

“This manifestly has not been the case in benchmarking phase one,” he added.