Mr. Thomas Burke:

As Senator Davitt rightly alluded to, the first national revaluation programme since the mid-19th century is under way, which means we have a great deal of catching up to do. The time that is going to take is a little scary. It is a long time since many of these businesses had property revaluations, and that is giving rise to some of the outrageous increases we are seeing. That is a real challenge for our members. I do not necessarily agree that there is a shift between large and small, rather there is a shift between retail and non-retail. We have seen in some of the areas that have revalued already a significant move of the burden of rates towards the retail sector. The Valuation Office tells us there will be a 60-40 split between winners and losers. Unfortunately, that is not the case in the retail sector where at least 60% of retailers seem to be losing. There have been a significant number of increases passing through the system and that is a real concern going forward.

The move to online is, naturally, of great concern to our members. The market in which Irish retailers are operating has changed significantly. In the context of today's discussion around business costs, that needs to be borne in mind. Competition is no longer internal. It is very much external also. Traditionally, we saw a flight across the Border into Northern Ireland when there were currency shifts and the cost of sterling changed, but that is almost less of a concern now when one compares it with the flight to online. Last year, we saw with the devaluation of sterling a 20% uplift in the rate of online transactions almost immediately. That is the new reality for Irish retailers who no longer compete with each other in the local market. They are now competing with online multinational global superpowers which are working from a very competitive base to target Irish consumers very efficiently and without any of the physical bricks and mortar overheads our members have. That is a new dynamic and context from within which to view the issue of local authority rates.

I share, as would anyone in Retail Ireland, Senator Gavan's concerns around the future of town centres. There has been a hollowing out and we have seen the disappearance of a large number of businesses from the Irish high street, with retailers in particular having borne the brunt. We have to make a concerted effort now to get those businesses back into towns. Businesses will follow people and we need to draw them back in by creating an ambience and environment that is deemed attractive. We need to do a variety of things. It is all very well to have a big box outside towns. We have plenty of them and they are necessary also.

We should not think, "Big box, bad; small retailer, good". What we need is a good retail mix and a little bit of everything because that is what consumers want and we must react to that. We need to be creative in how we find those solutions that will draw people back into town centres. We need to examine this in the context of people living in town centres and regeneration of the physical environment and the public realm to make them attractive for people to spend time there. We need to examine all these elements. This is why we are encouraged by the town centre regeneration initiatives Government has undertaken in recent times. However, we do not think this is ambitious enough and we need to do more. We need to invest more money in this area because we are in danger of losing some of these key high streets and town centres from the Irish landscape. If we do not do something soon, they could be gone forever.