PRE-BUDGET Businesses hope Christmas spending will not be hit

Cllr Brendan Heneghan, Mayor of Castlebar (back, sixth from left), switched on the 2012 Christmas lights in the county town. Included are Marie Crowley, Town Clerk; Seamus Granaghan, Town Manager; Cllr Eugene McCormack; traders, shoppers and children. Pic: Tom Campbell.

Businesses hope Christmas spending power will not be hit


Anton McNulty
antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie

For retailers on Castlebar’s Main Street, the timing of the budget could not come at a worse time with consumer confidence expected to take a hammering at the beginning of the most important time of the year for small businesses in the town.
Business man Brendan Heneghan explains there is real fear among businessmen in the town that there will be further closures of shops in the New Year if they do not have a successful business. As the proprietor of Heneghan’s Healthfood Store on Ellison Street, the Fine Gael town councillor hopes that the 2013 budget does not further impact on people’s ability to spend money over the Christmas.
“I’m worried like everyone else [and] obviously I hope people’s spending power is not affected much especially with Christmas coming up. We used to look forward to the budget years ago when people would hope to have more in their pocket but now they are getting less.  There is less footfall on the street and people are looking to spend their money more wisely and looking out for more bargains,” he said.
One of the main issues affecting business in the town is the payment of rates which  according to Cllr Heneghan, needs to be addressed at national level. He said they were the biggest overheads affecting small businesses and feels that even rate cuts by the council will not benefit the small business person as much as big business.
Cllr Heneghan also hoped that employers’ take home pay was not affected further by more levies which he said can be ‘quite painful for business people to take’. He added that children’s allowance was very important for middle income families and if it was reduced it would affect their spending and have an add-on affect on businesses.
An increase in VAT would also not be welcomed explained Cllr Heneghan who feels that the next couple of weeks are about hanging in there for businesses in Castlebar.
“This is going to be a tough budget for a lot of businesses who will be apprehensive about how Christmas will go. They are not looking forward to January or next year and the feeling is there will be more business closures. There are so many closures all over the country but people are fearful more closures will have a drastic effect on the atmosphere on the street.”

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