Mr. Paddy Malone:

In response to the question of Brexit and supports, we see that the Government has made some movement on the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, and on the availability of funding coming through the pillar banks. This is to be welcomed. The encouragement to look for alternative suppliers and customers is also moving along well and the local enterprise offices, LEOs, particularly the office in Louth, are doing an excellent job in that regard.

As for problems, however, the volatility of sterling is causing particular problems for the retail sector and we are looking for some kind of support for that area. The SBCI will not support retail per se. It will help develop an Internet presence or other such techniques but there are no supports for a straight-forward shop in a town, for example. What we are looking for here is a rates step-down. Louth, in particular, is having its rates revalued at present. Without moving the Border from north Louth to south Louth, we would say that one could reduce the rates by a certain percentage in the most northerly area, Carlingford. Dundalk is next, where one could reduce the rates by a slightly smaller percentage, followed by a slightly lower reduction in mid-Louth, which is where Deputy Breathnach is from. Drogheda might then get some reduction, but not as much. These kind of relieving provisions would help greatly.

What is critical, however, is clarity over the movement of goods. The movement of people is also indirectly related to this issue as 3,000 people cross the Border in Louth each day out of 26,000 crossings on the entire island. I have two employees who travel from Monaghan, travelling in and out of Northern Ireland and through Cullaville in south Armagh to get to work. They then have to reverse that process. One of them said to me that she did not care about being late in the morning but was very anxious to get home in the evening to pick the children up. I cannot argue with her. The implications then of Brexit for a whole host of projects, and for the cost of doing business in the Border area, is significant. Any measures that can target the region would be a help.

A further suggestion in the Chambers Ireland submission is that the living city initiative be extended to every city designated in the national development plan. As Deputy Breathnach will be aware, I have been banging on about this since 2000 and this should have been done for Dundalk years ago. Dundalk has a population of 40,000 and is three times the size of Kilkenny. Kilkenny has the living city initiative allowance, however, and we do not. Dundalk is an industrial town that in the 20th century saw a huge shift away from its traditional heavy engineering base. We then had the impact of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and for 40 years we were bleeding with little help from anybody.