'If we are wiped out, it'll be a ghost town': Cork businesses critical of decision to keep Vat rate at 13.5%

Food businesses across Cork City are in a sombre mood following the rejection of the 9% Vat rate in Budget 2025.

As the dust from the announcement is beginning to settle, business owners along MacCurtain St spoke to The Echo about their reaction to the news that the 13.5% Vat rate will remain into 2025.

Co-owner and manager of Moody Cafe Vin Bar, Jarek Paduch said: “I am disappointed. We have been trying to push the Vat 9% for half a year now and nobody hears us: Or they do, and they don’t care.

“We are the heart and soul of this country. They [the Government] know it, and, soon enough, Cork will be great on a postcard, but there will be nothing in the city for tourists. If we close the small businesses, if we close the pubs, the heartbeat of the city will be reduced to nothing.

Mr Parduch said: “They’re telling small businesses that it doesn’t matter what we say or how hard we work. It’s taking all the fun out of it: It’s not worth it to have a business anymore.”

“We are in business to make profit, but all of it is being given to the Government, or spent on bills and wages, [and] I think January will be even sadder than last year: We will see even more businesses close.

“The last thing that we want to do is to give up, but I can’t guarantee what our footfall will be, and how people will react to increasing prices,” Mr Parduch said.

“It’s hard on us. I would love to bring our prices down, but, now, I can’t do that. There is no other country in Europe that relies on hospitality as much as Ireland: It’s like a religion. And if we are wiped out, it’ll be a ghost town.”

“You can’t tell me that they’re unaware of the situation, unaware of all the closures, but, still, we are in this position: There is no joy in it anymore.”

Owner of the Son of a Bun burger restaurant, Niall O’Regan, agrees that the 13.5% Vat is another blow to the industry. He said: “I think it’s crazy; it’s ever-increasing costs.

“It’s a huge issue: It just keeps going up, and it’s very difficult to do business nowadays. It’s going to have a knock-on effect. It’s just putting pressure on everyone,” he added.

The owner of Happy Days Deli, Mazhar Hasan, said that he is also “concerned” about rising costs generally, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to run a small business. “Prices are going up and up, and we’re losing business,” Mr Hasan said.

“We’re feeling down day by day, and it’s getting hard to run a small business. We have no support of any kind.

“There’s already so many businesses closing, and these kind of things are killing small businesses.”