Ms Lorraine Higgins:

As employers, many of our members have very personal relationships with their employees. I suppose that is what Retail Excellence Ireland is all about. The maintenance of good relationships between employees and employers is absolutely fundamental. It is key to what we are trying to achieve. All the members of Retail Excellence Ireland with whom I have interfaced in my current role, which I have not been in for very long, recognise that the success of their businesses depends entirely on the happiness of their employees. We must bear in mind that any move which is made needs to be made with the best of intentions. We need to keep Irish businesses competitive and keep costs low, particularly in the context of the dual threat of Trump and Brexit. We saw before Christmas that the consumer sentiment figures were going down in December. The Visa spending index, which was published earlier today, makes it clear that there has been a shift to online shopping as a consequence of the devaluation of sterling. It seems that this trend is going to continue. I am not sure Irish employers can soak up any further threats to their cost base. We need to be mindful of that when we are making legislation.