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THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF the proposed latte levy this week has left a number of small business owners scratching their heads.
Love Supreme and Meet Me in the Morning are two Dublin coffee shops that see the levy on all coffee cups as an “easy way out” which will have a damaging effect on small Irish businesses.
Environment Minister Richard Bruton launched a public consultation on the proposed levy this week as part of a number of measures aimed at changing consumer and business behaviour. The exact figure of the levy will be determined following market research, but it’s likely to be 10c, 15c or 25c.
The minister said that under the measures shops will have to display pricing information so that their customers have all the information on what they will have to pay. Coffee shops will have to set out the price of coffee alone (this price would be of use to people who have their own keep cup).
Additional charges on top of the price of a coffee would also have to be displayed, such as the added charge for using a single-use cup (which would include the price of the disposable cup and the levy).
In last year’s budget, the 9% VAT rate for hotels, restaurants and hairdressing was increased to 13.5%. Owner of Love Supreme in Stoneybatter, Ken Flood, says the latte levy will have a similar “damaging effect” on small Irish businesses.
The Stoneybatter coffee shop has had compostable cups for the last six years but Flood believes any initiative to better the environment should be done in a “sensitive and sustainable way”.
“We aren’t necessarily against levies, we want change and feel it’s great to encourage people to make environmentally conscious decisions when consuming,” said Flood, but treating a “multi-national in the same way as a small corner coffee shop may not be fair”.
Maybe don’t levy small businesses. Or rather than a levy for small businesses use incentive-based rewards for more sustainable practices for a small business like tax /vat breaks to get businesses on board.
“It’s the easy way out. Most small hospitality businesses run pretty close to the line in terms of profit. As they’re continually forced to increase the price of their products, to accommodate VAT increases and levies it makes sense the people will buy them less frequently and as a result, their profits will decrease.
“A huge reason tourism is booming in Ireland is because of the smaller more creative, niche businesses. They provide real colour and diversity where large chain like businesses often try to attract everybody by providing a fairly bland and general product that is experienced everywhere in the world.
“These decisions by the government will damage the Dublin we know and love, leaving us with just big corporations and large hotel chains,” Flood told TheJournal.ie.
‘Punished’
Bruton has argued that some cups can be compostable but only if they make their way into the brown bin waste stream.
“The difficulty is we do not have the infrastructure in the retail sector to ensure that those compostable cups are making their way [into the brown bin stream],” he said.
Meet Me in the Morning on Pleasant Street is one of many businesses which have invested in keep cups and compostable cups to avoid single-use items.
Owner Brian Ó Caoimh said if the government is going to put the levy on takeaway coffee cups they may as well go the whole hog and address the situation by putting compost and recycling bins on the street.
“In the shop, we’re only using vegetables from Ireland from an organic farm, like 10 kilometres away. We’re all about sustainability, seasonality and we’re kind of, in my opinion, on the cutting edge of how far you can push things in terms of restaurants and cafes.
“It seems a little bit unfair that a company that is friendly to the environment could be punished. I mean, if you went into any restaurant or cafe in Dublin the thing that you could change that would have the most impact is not their coffee cups.”
Ó Caoimh added that there is a concern among local businesses that overall demand for coffee would go down if it became too expensive.
All revenue raised from the proposed measures is due to go into the Environment Fund and be reinvested in environmental actions, such as tackling waste blackspots and litter community programmes such as the National Spring Clean initiative, Tidy Towns and the development of community areas and gardens.
The fund, which is already in existence, is currently supported by levies on plastic bags and landfill waste. Since its inception in 2001, it has collected in excess of €830 million (to December 2018).
When asked by TheJournal.ie if the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment had any plans to install more recycling infrastructure with the funds raised by the levy, a Department spokesperson said:
The Fund will continue to focus on environmental action and the precise allocation of funding to specific projects considered on an annual basis.
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This country baffles me sometimes… constantly people moaning about a lack of transport and then something really positive like post 1am Luas gets proposed and people are like “nah I’ll walk home thanks” and other comments drowned in negativity. Blame the government all you want folks, a lot of our lack of progress is due to this “no thanks, not in my backyard” generation ruining it for the rest of us.
@The CFC Standard: red line at 8pm on a Friday is pretty rough, imagine 1am? They need to provide proper security to run it at this time.
@The CFC Standard: agreed – there’s also the reality that far too many of our wonderful people behaviour Friday and Saturday nights needs to be called out – it’s little wonder drivers would choose to work 7am until 7pm rather than tolerate the drunken abusive and often outright dangerous behaviour of so many people during the wee hours – so many comments complain about the lack of drivers on the road after midnight and wouldn’t take that risk for love or money and love to point the blame at everyone else in society – seems to be so much hypocrisy in ireland these days
@Fephie Stitz: I totally agree. I wouldn’t feel safe. It’s like that during the day too.
Good news but there should be security on every Luas, especially late nights.
That sounds lovely & safe
Not a hope. Ill walk home thanks
@John Doyle: So, if you lived in say; Saggart, you’d walk the 30km (4hrs) from the city centre home at 1am. Wow, the hyperbole is strong with you.
@Alan Wright: off ye pop I’ll jump on the luas with the 4 big stt security lads on board
@Darren Callaghan: What? I’m advocating for people to take the luas, it was the other guy that wants to walk.
@John Doyle: you could hitch a ride in an ambulance after you’ve been mugged by a couple of scrotes out on bail?!
Brilliant news hopefully it will be 24 hrs when the demand is there
They’ll do both and then drop back to the gteen line only due to antisocial issues.
They could investigate why only 29% of drivers are working at busy periods. Used to be where they would only work at those times. Sounds like there are enough taxis but they don’t like working when someone is going to get sick or abuse them or fight them or flee. Come on Eamonn
@Simon: or maybe taxis are become less of a cash business and drivers aren’t thinking it’s worth it anymore. Accepting card and using apps like freenow, the taxi driver pays a % of the fare to use that service. Cash is king. And the king is dead.
@Ciaran: well said
@Ciaran: in a post-covid society cash is becoming rare or it will be. Everything is becoming digital and for the better
Could we not allow non taxi licenced Uber drivers to operate Thursday to Sunday 10pm to 3am only? They could be Garda vetted and registered with the national transport authority.
Can’t believe Ryan advocating using public transport when he’s single handedly turned the city into a velodrome ……on yet bike Ryan…..Luas drivers already start earlier and finish later than every other public transport provider in the country now you just want them finishing later whilst your green mates work from home and cycle into the city on a Saturday for some bobble tea and some vegan ice cream…..increasing the trams to later operations will only increase anti social activity. The only way it works is if we have Transport Policing …..but you’d rather focus on cycle lanes
Folks, don’t forget to pack your stab vest and crash helmet in your backpack for these after hours Luas journeys home after those extra late nights out in our fair city. Good luck!!
Can we get rid of closing time constraints, and add more night links and 24 hr luas (restricted time table depending on demand) like any sensible European country
If you are getting I get to have luas at 1-1.30am, then you also need then at 4-5am for those of us who start work early
Great. I don’t live in Dublin, but this seems like an eminently sensible plan.
12% hike in taxi fares, ffs… Nobody else in the state getting half that percentage of a rise…. Incredible
Brilliant news … provided the line doesn’t run right outside your bedroom window ,,.?
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