Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A lot of local authorities have tried to encourage small and medium enterprises, SMEs, and small retailers to open. Concessions on rates and so on were given where a lot of units closed. We cannot knock that. I can understand the witnesses' point of view, but the local authorities were just trying to encourage business, especially in inner cities and towns. It is important that the main streets are not empty. I can take Ms Horan's point. A pharmacy may be there for a long time, doing all the hard slogging, when somebody sees it is doing well and opens beside it. That is the nature of business.