Food outlets clash with council on blocked drains

DUBLIN’S FOOD outlets, including pubs, restaurants and hotels, have clashed with the city council over demands for hundreds of thousands of euro in annual costs to maintain the city’s drains.

In 2008 the council introduced a three-year programme under which all “food service establishments” – a term that also includes takeaways and convenience stores – would be required to install grease traps at their premises, as well as to pay a fats, oils and grease licence fee.

But the Irish Hotels’ Federation, the City Business Association and individual retailers have claimed that in addition to the cost of new equipment and licence fees, they have been asked for an annual “monitoring charge” amounting to as much as €1,370 per premises.

They claim the monitoring charge is excessive, with some describing it as “extortion”.

At a recent city council meeting the Fine Gael leader on the council, Gerry Breen, also criticised the council’s outsourcing of the monitoring of grease traps to a private contractor, saying the council was “outsourcing its sheriffs badge”.

Mr Breen also drew attention to letters of complaint from traders and their organisations.

One of the letters, seen by The Irish Times,details the costs to a small business.

On top of the €380 licence fee, the writer said he had to pay €4,000 to upgrade his equipment, while in order to maintain the new grease-trap facility he had to enter into a contract with a drain company at a cost of about €1,200 per year.

“My objection, however, is in relation to an invoice I received last week from DCC for “annual monitoring charges” for €610, he said. “This is simply extortion and a step too far.”

John Power, chief executive of the Irish Hotels’ Federation, also wrote a letter of complaint claiming the monitoring charge was excessive. “It is our view that this requirement exceeds the licence requirements, and that businesses are entitled to a licence once they provide independent documentary evidence that they have complied with the conditions,” he said.

Dublin City Business Association also criticised the monitoring cost, claiming it was just one of a number of extra charges which were making doing business in Dublin difficult.

Outlining these costs, spokesman Tom Coffey said they now included:

Commercial rates

Business Improvement District levies (in Dublin 1 and 2 only)

Water charges

Trade effluent charges

Waste charges

Fats oils and grease charges

Fire service charges

Charges for use of city markets

There are other charges which do not, however, apply to all businesses. These include charges for parking, traffic enforcement, road works and planning fees.

Mr Coffey said other charges as a result of Government policy were not included in the list.These include, for example, Repak affiliation fees, VAT and other taxes.

Dublin City Council said it could no longer bear the excessive costs of drain clearance. One incident of a single blocked drain in late 2007 had required six weeks of work at a cost of €150,000.

Assistant city manager Matt Twomey told The Irish Timesthe monitoring charges were to be in place for a three-year period, after which if there was substantial compliance, they could be reviewed.