Ms Deirdre Drennan:

I thank the committee for having us here today. The National Federation of Retail Newsagents is a trade association representing independent news and magazine retailers all over the island of Ireland and Great Britain. Today we are here to discuss issues facing members in the Republic of Ireland, and we represent approximately 500 shops in the Twenty-six Counties. All our members are independent news or magazine retailers, meaning we do not represent multiple stores; although some retailers would be in small groups, they would be independently owned stores. All our members sell news and magazines. Our members range from the traditional corner shop to the full forecourt with petrol pumps, off-licence etc.

We are delighted to be invited before the committee because we have a number of proposals we think may curtail job losses in the industry and protect current jobs. My colleague and district president, Mr. Joe Sweeney, is a newsagent from Dublin and he will go through some of the proposals we have.