Mr. Keith Rogers:

It has been a long-running battle. The former Minister and Deputy, Mr. Pat Rabbitte, championed the argument in his pre-election manifesto, as did the former Taoiseach, Mr. Enda Kenny, and the current Taoiseach shortly afterwards. None of them was able to deliver for us. In the early 1990s on, retailers were forced to sign up to 30-year upward-only deals. Many of those deals are still washing themselves out. We hope that the issue will fix itself in time, but it remains a significant issue for many retailers.

To pick up on another of Deputy Shanahan's points, I would tell people not to lose faith in retail. Retail has gone through a tough time and Covid has had a negative effect, but we are a resilient bunch, which we have proven during the many challenges that have come our way. There is a great future ahead. Over the past 18 months, people were locked out of retail for a long time. Since we opened on 17 May, though, they have come back, embraced shopping and enjoyed the experience of getting out, touching and feeling goods and being able to try on clothes. It remains challenging because many areas of retail that were not mentioned in our submission are still closed, but people are coming back. Shopping is the No. 1 hobby in Ireland and will continue to be so.

Regarding multiples, the largest growth area in retail at the moment is in small towns and villages, including craft and organic retail, with local shopping being supported. There are great opportunities, and it is important that our legislators understand this. We need a dig-out and support at the moment. We can work with our colleagues from Mandate and ICTU on supporting people to be better employers and supporting the recent legislation on promoting better jobs. We have proven that we can do the right thing in the past and can prove it again. We are proud that we paid every member of our staff full wages throughout the lockdown. We have got that back in spades in terms of loyalty and appreciation. We have not had a single personnel issue since reopening. This is against a backdrop where recruitment, job losses, roster niggles and so on are the greatest issues at operational level. There are great signs for our industry and I urge the Deputy to keep that, rather than the challenges, to the fore of his mind. With everyone's help, we will get through this.