There has been a lot of discussion around the new Customs charges which came into effect on Wednesday.

The duty has been variously described as the Marmite fee (love it or hate it) and in some quarters the Temu tax (other Chinese discount websites are available).

Basically what it means is any delivery of online orders that was shipped outside the EU and valued under €150 is subject to a €3 fee for each unique item.

Orders to this value were previously exempt from Customs charges and the non-refundable charge will apply to all non-EU deliveries, including the UK.

We all love a bargain but the glut of Chinese discount websites, from Temu to Shein to Wish and AliExpress, has turned some of us into fast-fashion consumers on steroids.

So perhaps the new charges will make us think twice about that ‘must-have’ item of clothing/household gadget/genuine leather-bound journal (ahem) – and maybe even delete the apps for good.

Temu et al fans are up in arms at the charge which, given the low price points of most items, could in effect almost double the price in some cases. But do we really need all the clutter?

How many polyester dresses, rayon tops, or ‘man-made material’ pairs of sandals does one woman really need? There is something very freeing about sorting through the rails and offloading anything that, as Marie Kondo says, does not spark joy to the nearest charity shop.

The pandemic has a lot to answer for when it comes to the explosion in online shopping. Lockdown left a lot of us wondering what to do with ourselves and retail therapy became something of a release.

But retail therapy, or to give it its proper name, overconsumption, comes at a price (and not just on your debit card). Clutter can bring the most organised of homes to its knees.

How many of us have drawers and boxes stuffed with toys, trinkets and other useless bits of plastic brought home in party bags which were more than likely filled en masse via an online order delivery a discount website?

Revenue said the charge is designed to ensure fairness for Irish and EU businesses and aims to stop flooding Europe with cheap imports, which is fair enough.

We didn’t exactly embrace the plastic bag levy when it was introduced, but by and large it achieved its aim. The same can be said, to a degree, for the even less popular Re-Turn scheme.

A €3 duty is a small price to pay to protect jobs and slow the fast-fashion movement. Just beware of fraudsters jumping on the bandwagon.

Rural plan win

Long-awaited changes to rural housing planning rules are certainly a gamechanger for families across the country, and even more so here in West Cork.

Stringent policies and postcode lotteries have for years prevented people from building on their family farms or applying for one off housing in the countryside.

This relaxation of the rules will mean that people will be allowed to build home in their own communities. This can only benefit rural areas and prevent depopulation while also providing a boost to local schools, businesses and sport clubs.

The changes however are perhaps too late for many young couples who were either forced to live elsewhere or even emigrate as a result of the restrictive current planning laws which prevented them from staying in their own community. A recent council meeting heard one couple had spent over €12,000 on plans to build a house on their family’s land but were refused permission, while another couple emigrated to Australia because they couldn’t get approval to build.

The interference of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has also been highlighted when it comes to people seeking planning along the N71. There is no point relaxing the rules when TII can come in and object to a planning application on the N71 because they say it’s a ‘primary route’. Let’s face it, it is barely a ‘secondary route’ given the shocking state of the road, so TII need to butt out, so to speak.