Retail Ireland, the IBEC group that represents the Irish retail sector, today urged that this year all local authorities give retailers a 10% rebate on commercial rates bill, given the very serious challenges the sector is facing. However, there is no proposal as to how the cut will be funded by the cash-strapped local authorities.

The Irish Examiner reports today that local authorities have been told to crack down on defaulters as figures show more than €500 million is owed in development levies, rent and rates arrears and unpaid refuse charges. The country’s largest local authority has arrears totalling €231m, including €73m owed by businesses in rates. Included in this is a staggering €16m owed to Dublin City Council in refuse charges with approximately 9,500 customers in "serious arrears" (in excess of one year). At the end of November last year, there were a total of 8,795 rent accounts in arrears for more than a month - - totalling €22m. More than €73m is owed in commercial rates, with €16m owed in commercial water charges.  Fingal County Council has arrears of over €204m, with over 70% of this figure made up of €146m in development levies.

Retail Ireland said today it has written to the chairperson of every local authority as well as to all city and county managers to ask that this year retailers be given a 10% rebate on the commercial rates bill paid in 2009 and suspend upward revaluations where necessary. It has also written to John Gormley, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to ask that the minister provide leadership and coordinate this process. In addition, the group has written to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, and to Eamon Gilmore, leader of the Labour Party, to request that their councillors support such a move.

Retail Ireland Director Torlach Denihan said: "Over the last year 30,000 retail jobs have been lost and the sector is struggling to avoid further redundancies over the coming months. We wrote to the chairperson of every local authority as well as to all city and county managers in November to advise them of the crisis in retailing and to seek their help in saving local retail jobs. The pay of local authority staff has since been cut by Government and further adjustments are needed to get the economy back on a sustainable footing.

Every local authority must play its part in the retail sector’s efforts to regain lost competitiveness and safeguard employment. The Minister should ensure that theses payroll savings are passed on in full to the Local Authorities provided that they are exclusively used to reduce commercial rates. All Chairpersons, City and County Managers must help save local retail employment through a 10% rates rebate. An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, and Eamon Gilmore, leader of the Labour Party all subscribe to the goal of regaining national competitiveness and we have sought their support because a rates rebate will help achieve this.

"Local authorities now need to act responsibly and help the retail sector retain employment in view of the threat posed by the collapse in sales, aggravated by cross- border shopping.

"Since 2000 the annual rate on valuation has increased by a cumulative 57% nationally. Despite this some local authorities took the incredible decision to increase the annual rate on valuation for 2010 after misguided increases for 2009, despite the fact that the retail sector was in crisis. We are particularly disturbed that a revaluation exercise in South Dublin and Fingal is further aggravating the problem, resulting in some retailers facing increases of up to 50%."

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews has called on the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan to intervene in what he described as the “rental crisis” facing retailers.

A legislative framework should be put in place to force property owners to “engage constructively” with their leaseholders, rather than keep rents “artificially high”, according to Andrews.

“The drastic change in Ireland’s economy in the past 18 months means that old leases drawn up in boom years are no longer realistic,”he said. “Retailers are telling me the biggest problem they face is the refusal of landlords to even discuss the realities of the current commercial rental market. In some cases, people are locked into leases of up to 25 years with nowhere to turn if property owners refuse to negotiate.”

The ban on upward-only rent reviews comes into effect on February 28th, but this applies only to new leases.

“These are extraordinary times, and landlords have to be willing to facilitate viable businesses; if they are not, the Government must intervene,” Andrews said, adding that he intended to raise the matter at this week’s Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting.

The Irish Times reports that former chairman of AIB Bank, Dermot Gleeson, was involved in two substantial commercial property investments in 2006, the height of the property boom. Gleeson was part of a partnership that bought property at the corner of Dawson Street and Duke Street, Dublin, in December 2006 for €20 million.

The tenant of this property, Carluccio’s restaurant, has secured a reduction in its annual €680,000 rent, after the restaurant said last week that it it would otherwise go out of business. The partnership bought the premises in December 2006 for €20 million and entered into a 20-year lease with Carluccio’s.