Fianna Fáil Candidate for Roscommon Galway Shane Curran is highlighting the increasingly high and often crippling commercial rates in Roscommon.
“The setting of Commercial Rates (ARV) is a matter for Roscommon County Council, but with rates being as high as 75 to the pound for commercial space in Roscommon and just 54 to the pound in neighbouring Westmeath, it is hard to see just how Roscommon businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups are to compete. Effectively this means that a business in Roscommon with a €50 valuation pays €1,000 more per year than a business with the same valuation in Co. Westmeath.” explained Mr Curran.
Mr Curran continued “As a business owner, I understand the day-to-day struggles of managing an SME. Micro, small and medium enterprises account for 99.7 per cent of all business enterprises in Ireland.”
The local candidate is proposing a revamp on the commercial rates system whilst also creating business improvement districts that could help Enterprise Ireland to attract foreign direct Investment to the Roscommon area. “We need to make Roscommon more attractive for business and a place that companies and people want to do business in. This starts with the rates,” said Mr. Curran.
“The Roscommon ARV has been reduced by 7% over the last number of years resulting in reduced expenditure of over €750,000 per annum but this is not enough. The rates need to be lowered in order for businesses to be able to remain open and also to expand. We need to reward entrepreneurship and especially in rural Ireland. The SME sector must be supported by every means and my party remains firmly committed to driving a pro-enterprise agenda. That’s what this election is about and that’s what Fianna Fáil will do,” concluded Mr Curran.