Mr. Andrew Kinsella:

I wish to draw a slight distinction between the attendees. I am no longer a member of the National Off-Licence Association for the simple reason that I went out of business last year after ten years of trading. I had a fully licensed wine shop on the south side of the city. Luckily, I had a very loyal group of consumers who supported me for a long time because they appreciated and valued my service, the quality of wines and even the role that I played in the local community. Earlier, we mentioned SMEs in general and their value. My business reached the point at which even my good customers acknowledged that even though my wines were great and they loved coming to my shop and really wanted to shop with me, there was a gap between the prices they saw in the Sunday newspapers and the prices of my products. It meant there was no point in my selling a bottle of wine at €7.50 and waiting for a customer to enter my shop to make €1 if I was lucky. The price gap became too wide. Nobody in the independent trade expects to sell his or her products as cheaply as the supermarkets do, because they will always be cheaper. People are willing to pay a premium, but not when their disposable incomes are lower. There is only so far they can be pushed on price in such circumstances, and the same applies to all markets. I do not know of any other sector in which there is legislation that puts SMEs at such a disadvantage.