Council writes off €15m in rates as firms go bust

CORK County Council wrote off €15.26 million in irrecoverable rates between 2008 and 2010 as the recession took hold and large numbers of businesses went bust.

The scale of the problem facing small businesses, in particular, was highlighted at a meeting yesterday in Cork County Hall, where figures released by the council’s head of finance, Ger Power, showed that the amount of written-off rates was increasing year by year.

Some €3.6m was written off in 2008, €5m in 2009 and €6.6m last year.