Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have a little more time than we had anticipated and I thank members and our guests for their discipline. I will ask a couple of questions before opening it up to the floor. We saw various Exchequer returns. Mr. Moran, in a previous life, spent a lot of time examining Exchequer returns. Would it be useful if VAT returns were split between online and on-street sales? There has been a considerable reduction in VAT returns and that was not unexpected. We know that there has been an increase in online sales, particularly in the grocery sector, and that is not obvious from Exchequer returns.

Does Ms McCabe think there is increased competition from online sales? It must have been incredibly difficult for Ms McCabe, having a shop full of stock and suddenly and unexpectedly having to shut down. People are trading online more and more. Are Irish SMEs moving towards online trading? Do they need more supports to do that? Are there SMEs that have moved from having a high street presence to trading online? Are SMEs still trading without opening their doors? There are a number of questions there but I would appreciate if our guests could answer them.