Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have three questions. The Minister was very welcome when she came to Waterford on Friday last for the launch of the ninth Future Jobs Ireland programme. It was a very positive launch with a lot of energy in the room.

First, on an issue I raise with the Minister continuously and as she herself said on Friday, at 7.7% the south east remains stubbornly above the average unemployment level in the rest of the country, although I know there are issues in other regions. I ask the Minister to expand on what specific areas she might target so we might come into line with the rest.

My second question concerns retail. I was recently asked to meet the British head of a retail consortium. Again, my question focuses on Brexit, from which, unfortunately, we cannot get away. There are many jobs in retail in Ireland and I refer specifically to chain stores like Next, H&M, Marks and Spencer and Debenhams, which are England-based English companies but have a lot of stores and workers in Ireland. Has the Department had any interaction with these companies? The word "uncertainty" is raised every day in regard to Brexit. We do not know exactly what is going to happen and, as Deputy Lisa Chambers said, it changes on a hourly basis, never mind a daily basis. Has there been interaction in regard to taking away the chilling effect and safeguarding these chain stores that have become such a part of retail in Ireland? Although there is not a lot we can do about it, one of my concerns is that by the year 2020, apparently, 80% of all clothing will be purchased online, so retailers are facing huge challenges in any case. The Minister might expand on that.

Moving completely away from that issue, my third question relates to subhead A15, which deals with the humanitarian relief scheme. There was no allocation under this heading and the Minister might explain the reason for this. Is there a carryover from last year?