Latest news with #postoffices
Irish Times
16 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
VAT rate for small businesses will be reduced permanently, Tánaiste tells party colleagues
The next Budget will be an 'expansionary package' with plans to permanently reduce the VAT rate for small businesses, the Tánaiste has said. Simon Harris told the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday that Budget 2026 would be 'responsible and responsive', according to a source present. The Tánaiste is understood to have told those present that he and his party colleagues remembered 'very well' what the party canvassed on in the lead up to the general election. Among the measures discussed was a permanent reduction in the VAT rate for small businesses. READ MORE This was alongside remarks by Mr Harris that childcare fees for many families are 'like a second mortgage'. He told colleagues these costs must be 'permanently reduced' over the lifetime of the Government. He added that the cost of education, across all levels, must be reduced alongside healthcare costs, while 'significant progress' must be made in children's disability services and special education. Separately, the Fine Gael leader said he supported calls for post offices to receive €15 million per year in funding for the next five years. A report earlier this year from Grant Thornton found that the post office network requires this level of funding per year until 2030, without which the State faces the prospect of 'rapid, unrestrained closures', which would risk 'irreparable financial, economic and social harm'. Direct funding of €10 million annually from the State is due to expire at the end of this year. An Oireachtas committee on Wednesday heard that up to 400 post offices could close if the State does not increase aid.
Irish Times
20 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
‘Up to 400 post offices could shut' unless state increases subsidy to keep them running, TDs told
There could be widespread closures of local post offices from January if the Government does not approve a 50 per cent rise in the level of subvention to support them, an Oireachtas committee has been told. About €23 million has been provided to postmasters across the country to help maintain the network since the scheme was introduced a little over two years ago, members of the Oireachtas Communications committee were told on Wednesday. But the annual amount needed to be increased from €10 million to €15 million if services were to be retained in hundreds of offices considered to be less viable. 'You're looking at in January of next year, without government funding being increased, unrestrained closures throughout the country, rural and urban,' said Seán Martin, president of the Irish Postmasters' Union, citing a recent poll of its members. READ MORE 'Up to 40 per cent, 400 post offices, may go because the Government decides that it doesn't believe the community should have them.' He said a Grant Thornton assessment commissioned by the union had suggested many local offices were struggling to stay open because payments for the provision of government services were so low. He cited the recent the handling of the recent €2,000 carer's support grant paid to those providing full-time care to an elderly person or someone with a disability, saying that for their time and effort and security concerns related to the handling of cash, postmasters received just 65 cent for each payment handled. 'That's the difficulty postmasters have ... they're doing business, but unfortunately the business they're doing for Government is in cents rather than euros.' Contracts for such services are negotiated centrally by An Post . The company's chief executive, David McRedmond, said its aim was, where possible, to achieve increases in the fees obtained that it could pass on to them. Mr Martin said his union wanted to see more services provided through local post offices and it believed its members could play a valuable role in areas such as updating the register of electors and identity verification. He suggested postmasters could be become peace commissioners, a move that could free up gardaí from having to sign or witness official forms. An Post and the Department of Communications support the proposed €5 million increase in annual Government support, the committee heard, with a decision expected in the budget to be announced later this year. Many committee members expressed support for the increase. Labour's Alan Kelly , who chairs the committee, said he believed the union was selling itself short with the scale of its request. Mr McRedmond said many of the more than 800 post offices run by contractors, which were said to be generally more efficient than the 41 directly managed ones, were doing well, but he accepted some were 'struggling'. Asked about the recent decision to sell the post office building in Rathmines, Dublin, one of a number being transferred to contractors, he said it had been offered to the Land Development Agency and to Dublin City Council before the decision had been taken to put it on the open market, but both had declined. Asked about the terms on which it was offered, he said the LDA had been offered it for 'almost no payment', but would have to check with regard to the discussion with the council, which had viewed the premises before deciding it did not want to take it over.
