Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting that there has been an emphasis on banking today. At our first meeting, there was a huge emphasis on commercial rates. We spent most of the meeting discussing that issue. When I owned a small shop for 17 years, I was a proud member of RGDATA. I compliment RGDATA, NOffLA and the CSNA. It is nice for small independent shops that are not part of a chain like Centra or Spar to have the support of such organisations. When one gets the circulars, one is informed about the various scams that are going on and one is kept up to date on what is happening. It is nice for an independent shopkeeper to be part of an umbrella group. I compliment the organisations on the work they are doing from this point of view.