A proposed business improvement district scheme for Dún Laoghaire town costing more than €240,000 a year will be put to a vote of businesses in the area, councillors in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council agreed last night.

Businesses will be asked if they want to pay an additional annual levy of €26 up to more than €10,000, depending on the rateable value of their property, to fund the scheme.

Some 805 businesses in Dún Laoghaire will be asked to vote. A similar scheme has already been implemented in other areas, including Dublin city centre.

The scheme is being proposed by a group made up of 17 businesses and groups in the town.

It aims to develop and implement initiatives to promote and improve trade and improve the image of the town.

These could include developing a loyalty card scheme, organising events such as fireworks displays, funding a wifi project, a food festival and a day for senior citizens, according to the group’s proposal.

Next year
The group hopes the scheme will be in place in the first three months of next year and will last for five years.

Cllr Donal Marren (FG) praised local businesses for proposing the initiative.

But Cllr Donna Pierse (Lab) said she did have some concerns with the proposal and hoped a quorum could be imposed, given that when the scheme was put out to initial consultation there were only 18 submissions.

In separate business, Frank Austin, director of transportation and water services, told councillors that discussions around the transfer of responsibility for water to Irish Water were becoming “more and more intense”.

The transfer of all assets related to water would have to be completed by the end of the year, Mr Austin said. This was “a very difficult and complex process” and a service-level agreement would also have to be agreed by the year’s end.