Restaurateurs in Dublin city are split over the approach of their Association to a referendum on the future of the business group Dublin 

Town.

More than 2,500 retail members of the city’s Business Improvement District (Bid), which operates under the name Dublin Town, will hold a five-yearly plebiscite next month to decide on its future.

The RAI is leading a campaign for a 'No' vote but 18 of its Dublin members have asked its president Liam Edwards to ensure that the Association takes a neutral stance.

The Licensed Vintners Association representing publicans is remaining neutral on the issue but the Irish Hotels Federation is urging its member to vote 'No'.

An RAI-led alliance calling itself the “No To Bid” campaign is encouraging a “No” vote among businesses, arguing that an annual levy paid to Dublin Town is double taxation on top of commercial rates.

Accounts for 2015 show Dublin Town received €2.7 million from the levy, which is equivalent to 5 per cent of the commercial rates paid by businesses in the city centre, along with €408,000 from other sources.

Saying that it has received an estimated €1.9 million from unnamed sources over the past decade, RAI chief executive Adrian Cummins  (pictured)accused the organisation of a lack of transparency that should be investigated by the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee.

 

Dublin Town says it “utterly rejects” the transparency charges, saying the sources of sponsorship money are fully acknowledged.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce has offered Dublin Town conditional support, as long as it concentrates on its original mandate, “including street cleaning and graffiti removal”.