Mr. Gerry Light:

It appears the meeting is probably drawing to a conclusion. I am certainly not an expert even though I have worked around retail for most of my working life and have been directly involved with it from a worker representative perspective, but one of the great challenges for retail and retail representatives as we go into the future and some of the great unknowns and challenges we will have to face is the need to think differently in terms of how they conduct business. Grocery and convenience retail in particular has traditionally been built around a model of high volume and low margins, as has been noted several times during the meeting.

In my view and that of others, that kind of price-led proposition, as opposed to a value proposition, is unsustainable in the long term for operators. Now is the time for them to grasp the opportunity to play to their strengths through the provision of excellent customer service, accessibility, quality-led offering in store and positive community engagement - all that kind of stuff. It is our view and that of others that a price-led strategy leads to staff suppression. A value-led strategy, such as the one I have outlined, with customer service and proactive community engagement at its heart leads to investment in staff, their skills wages and working conditions and improved staff retention and motivation. When I say that others hold those views, such views were articulated recently by the head of the retail sector in the Bank of Ireland.

Those are the type of challenges we face. They are not insurmountable, as Mr. Graham and Mr. Rogers have said. However, it will be a huge challenge for all. It is a great opportunity and it would be unfortunate if we did not grasp it.