Mr. Stephen Lynam:

On the taxation point, whatever one's view on property charges, water charges and so on, from a business point of view the shame is that there has been a rebalance in terms of the way local authorities are funded yet businesses, be they retail or otherwise, have not seen a reduction on the other side. Retailers who are completely dependent on consumer spend are being continuously squeezed in terms of their own costs while their consumer base has less money. Where we go from there I do not know, other than to say that a chicken and egg situation may arise whereby if we freeze rates, and we will be advocating cuts in personal taxation in the next budget, that will in and of itself spur economic activity and hopefully lead to changes.

On Internet sales, the data we have is much worse. We understand that in 2012, the online market was worth €4 billion and in 2016 will have quadrupled to €16 billion but - and this is where the negativity comes in - 75% of that €4 billion went to stores with a physical presence in this country. People spending online is not in and of itself a problem for this country. The problem is that so little of that online spend goes to Irish retailers, and by Irish retailers I mean retailers who employ people here. The trick is to ensure that more of that online spend goes to retailers based in towns and cities around Ireland. I will let the gentlemen take the other questions.