Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

I compliment Deputy Ciarán Lynch on introducing this Bill. I see no defects in it and welcome its provision of measures to address this serious situation immediately. I was disappointed at Question Time yesterday when the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, told us that we must gather more information and set up a review group before taking action on this issue. How many more review groups and agencies does the Government need to consult in order to discover there is a problem that is getting more serious by the day? There is evidence of shop closures, with the associated job losses, on every street in the country. I am fed up with the Government's recourse to review groups, which amounts to nothing other than inaction. We have seen that in the past two years since we began discussing the jobs crisis in February and March 2008. We have had two years of inaction and nothing different being done by various Departments. I am tired of it.

Retail Excellence Ireland conducted a survey in September 2009 on rental contracts in the retail sector. Members of that organisation told the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment that more than 80% of business indicated a need for immediate reductions in rent. Of those, more than 50% required reductions of 25% or more just to survive. Some 64% predicted they will be out of business within two years if they do not succeed in securing a reduction in rent, with most of those likely to shut up shop in the first year. At the committee meeting we asked departmental officials what plan there is to assist the retail sector in respect of rent reviews and everything else. They looked at us as if we were talking gobbledegook. Even though all forecasts at that time were pointing to a loss of 60,000 jobs in the retail sector, the Department had no plan in place to prevent such losses. Since then, 30,000 of those jobs are already gone. Are we simply to sit back and wait for another 30,000 to be lost? Departmental officials, who are the responsibility of the Tánaiste, could outline no plan or strategy for saving retail jobs. That is what we are seeing across the board in all sections of enterprise. I tackled the Tánaiste on this point yesterday because I am firmly of the view that she is failing to help small businesses.

This simple Bill can be agreed tonight and implemented shortly in an effort to assist retailers. Last night Deputy Ciarán Lynch read out a letter from a constituent of mine in Navan, County Meath, Ms Kathryn Lynch, who ran an excellent business in Sage and Stone. That young woman and her sister, mother and friends have worked hard for years to get the business up and running and had achieved considerable success in selling Irish-made products. They paid high rents and other costs and provided employment, but they had to close the business after Christmas. Even that does not end her misery because the landlord, who may be a large investor and have some property which will go into NAMA, will, more than likely, pursue her for a personal guarantee. She could also lose her house.

Nobody gains in such a situation. Businesses in Navan and all over the country will lose jobs and close. Nobody will gain. The landlords will not get tenants to sign a lease because they cannot afford to pay rent. They can chase them through the courts for personal guarantees, but when they get them they will not be worth much. Nobody is gaining. What is needed is for the Government to take some responsibility and action in order to sort this situation out and put heads together. It is fine to say some landlords are giving rent reductions, but the large investors and institutions are not. Those who have personal guarantees are not giving reductions in rent because they do not have to. It is the Government's duty to fix that situation. This is one way to try to help to make a difference. If we do nothing, we will have massive job losses, which will be on the hands of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Ministers.

The Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, said we need to send out a strong message in the Bill in order to fix the problem. There will not be a problem with rents in the future because people will have realised the market does not exist. We have had a problem for the past number of years. Inaction and a failure to do anything about it will cost us thousands of jobs. That is a shame. I have said it before and I will say it again - politics, at a time when it is badly needed in the country, is failing the people, small businesses and the people they employ. We will have major increases in unemployment. The most annoying aspect of the problem is that it could be prevented with some imagination, effort, action and some new strategies.

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