Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Business Growth and Job Creation in Town and Village Centres: Discussion (Resumed)

2:40 pm

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that only four Oireachtas Members were present to hear the fantastic presentation. It is important to try to motivate the rest of the membership of the committee to ensure they attend these meetings and do so to the end. To add to the comments made by Deputy Lyons, e-commerce is a massive issue. The level of transfer from traditional retail to e-commerce on an annual basis is in the billions, and three out of every four of those euro land outside this jurisdiction. As that is a major threat to retail and to retail jobs, the State needs to do more. Perhaps the witnesses will outline some of their experiences with regard to State supports on e-commerce. I would like to see all local authorities creating virtual towns where people can go to, for example, navan.ie, and see what shops are available in Navan. They could click on the particular shops, some of which might offer an e-commerce opportunity for people to purchase. That would help further local town growth and also help the delegation.

The LEOs are very new and have only hit the ground. Do the witnesses have any experience of LEOs facilitating their needs as retailers? Are the witnesses affected by the move to out-of-town shopping? Do they represent traditional hardware shops or Homebase and Woodies and so on?

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