I echo some of the comments made by the previous two speakers. We are in the first aid and hygiene business. I also own a business in the North of Ireland and a smaller business in the South so I can compare the two but, effectively, we operate in the same environment area.
On the waste side, because it affects part of our business in Dublin, recently we had to renew some of the licences we have had, being in business for the past 25 years, and advertise in the newspapers and so on. We invited Dublin City Council to visit our small facility, which has a turnover of approximately €200,000 in this part of our business. In the end three groups of officials from Dublin City Council visited the premises, not singly but in twos and nobody looked at the previous file. They were all from different sections of Dublin City Council and all took photographs of a washing machine which one would find in any hotel in Dublin. It was a total waste of time. Dublin City Council officials come out to check on the permits for our vans. We have such permits but they wanted to see the vans and all the permits. It is a total waste of time and resources. Given that we are in the system, Dublin City Council know about us and we are visited on a regular basis.
In the unit where we are located there are 21 factories, yet we are the only company that gets a visit from Dublin City Council. They are all getting rid of waste, computers and so on. If one is honest enough to go forward, one gets all the extra bits and pieces. One of the licences for renewal of our permit cost €1,200 three years ago. The renewal bill this year, up to last October-November, was €4,500. I asked the reason. The officials said its labour costs have increased, office costs have increased, and a visit to a premises costs €600, yet they are in the premises for only 20 minutes. I would like to get €600 every time I visit a Government office to provide a service for it. We are being asked by Government agencies to reduce our prices while Dublin City Council is increasing our costs.
Recently I was in the US and got stuck there owing to the volcanic ash. We had to fill in a CSO form yesterday which took an hour and a half to complete. The information requested is already contained in our statutory accounts. The only extra information required was what business we are doing in each county. I do not know what benefit that information is to anybody. It does not make sense to me. As Dr. O'Boyle said we had to submit our interest returns. It so happens that our financial controller is on maternity leave. I can do it. However, I could not do it as I was stuck in New York and then we are subject to a fine of €1,200 because our interest returns are not submitted on time. This is bureaucracy gone absolutely mad.
If somebody wants to take holidays there is a problem. One item has to be submitted by the 14th of the month, another item by the 19th of the month and so on. There are so many dates for one form or another spread over a month that if someone wants to take holidays there is a problem. If one is in the accounts area or the financial controller of a company one must organise one's holidays around the form filling which one has to get through. All of this takes a massive amount of time and resources.
We all have tax clearance. We receive letters from all Departments asking for our tax clearance certificate. It is on-line. There should be some system in place when it is automatically renewed and that the HSE knows that our tax is up to date. Why should we have to tell the HSE as the information is already available? This is a waste of time and resources. I am convinced that people are trying to create work for themselves because they are afraid they will be made unemployed. It is bureaucracy gone mad.