Mr. Reg McCabe:

We listen to what the Minister and the Government have to say. We understood that it would be their intention to provide this level of re-balancing, but perhaps we are being a little naive. It would still be our strong ambition that the Government would deliver on that commitment. We certainly feel that it should.

On the issue of large versus small, it would be helpful as a reform to put a cap on rates where one would pay rates based on a valuation system, as one does now, but up to a particular figure. That would provide an incentive to employment if one expanded. That cap could be set at, for example, €0.5 million, and one simply would not pay anything over €0.5 million, irrespective of the scale of one's company. That would be a much fairer way. As matters stand, ultimately, the figure for rates for any particular location is infinite. There is no upper limit.