Grocery shops want red tape cut

RED tape-entangled grocery shop owners want their 17 annual visits by inspectors grouped together to save time and their 21 licensing fees reduced by 15%.

Small retailers are collectively paying out €26.5m in regulatory fees and individually spending the equivalent of a 50-hour week each year filling forms and ticking boxes, according to an RGDATA report presented to the Oireachtas Economic Regulatory Affairs Committee yesterday.

The report, prepared by economist Jim Power for RGDATA, which represents 4,000 family-run grocery shops in Ireland, warns that this regulatory burden is threatening the viability and survival of small local shops.